i thought she was dead
by H2oaddict
Summary: A year after Bella Hartley disappears, Emma, Cleo and Rikki aren't friends anymore. During their senior year, the girls start to get mysterious messages signed by "B." Who is this? It can't be...Based on Pretty Little Liars. Rated T for slight swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**summary **

**A year after Bella Hartley disappears, Emma, Cleo and Rikki aren't friends anymore. During their senior year, the girls start to get mysterious messages signed by "B." Who is this? It can't be...Based on Pretty Little Liars. Rated T for slight swearing.**

**everything in****h2o just add water just happened a year earlier Emma didn't leave during her senior year**

**ok the first 13 chapters are all written by h2o4ever I just loved the story but the person discontinued it so someone else adopted it but never posted any thing so im going to continue starting chapter 14.**

**I don't own h2o just add water**

Prologue: Bella and Emma, The Enemies

-Third POV-

"Hey, Bells," an ecstatic Cleo said, opening the door to reveal none other than Bella Hartley, suitcase in her hand. Her dirty blonde hair was tousled to perfection and draped on her shoulders, which really brought out the pretty blue color in her eyes, which, evidentially, matched her crystal blue tank top. Her ripped dark jeans were a simple touch to flair up her outfit. Bella Hartley looked good in anything.

"Come on in," Cleo said, stepping away from the warmth seeping into the hallway. "Rikki is already here picking out some movies we can watch tonight. We can go and help."

"Great," said Bella, stepping into the doorway. The surroundings were so familiar that she could have called it her own home. Cleo led her down the hallway, where Bella dropped her stuff on Cleo's couch. They then joined Rikki, who was quietly shuffling through the movies.

"Hey, guys," said Rikki, looking up to see the two figures enter the doorway. "Bella! Glad you could come."

"Of course!" said Bella, all smiles. "It's great to go to a sleepover that doesn't involve a full moon and getting moonstruck. Plus, it helps me get my mind off of..." Bella instantly shut up and her eyes trailed to the countertop as if she had revealed too much already. "Nothing."

"Get your mind off of what?" Rikki asked, her eyes leaving the huge stack of DVDs and going to Bella. "You can tell us. We're best friends."

"Okay," Bella said, looking up, her smile returning full center on her lips. "You're right. We're friends. See, I had a fight with Will today."

"What about?" Cleo asked, leaning on the table with her elbows, her hand cupping her chin in the right direction so that she was looking deep into Bella's endless blue eyes.

"Just something stupid. I'm sure we'll make up tomorrow." Bella instantly got off the touchy subject by directing her eyes to the two large pizza boxes sitting on the table. "What kind of pizza are those?"

"Uh," Cleo said, dumbly looking at Rikki. Rikki shrugged, signaling that if Bella didn't want to talk about it, they probably shouldn't bring it up. Cleo looked at the pizza boxes and pointed to the one on the right. "Cheese pizza," she said, and then pointed to the left. "Pepperoni and mushroom."

"Dibs on a slice of cheese," Bella said, smiling. She scooted closer to the cheese box.

"As long as I get pepperoni and mushroom!" hollered Rikki.

"You two are so full of it," Cleo said, grinning. She got out a huge stack of paper plates and some cups. She set them down on the table. "We can eat after we set everything up."

"What's there to set up?" groaned an obviously hungry Rikki.

"Our sleeping bags. And we still have to pick out a couple movies to watch," Cleo said, picking up the heavy stack of movies. "How about we each pick one?"

"Two," challenged Bella, laughing. "We're staying up all night, right?"

"I guess," said Cleo. "I don't really think it matters."

"Then we'll stay up all night." Bella's word was final.

The girls all scooted closer together and pawed through the thick stack. Once they were almost done choosing movies, Cleo's dad walked in. "Hey, girls, I have a big surprise for you."

"What is it, Mr. Sertori?" Rikki asked, backing away from the movies.

"Come with me," he said, and the girls followed him upstairs, down the hall, and found themselves facing a wooden door.

"The closet, dad?" Cleo said. She shifted her weight to her other foot. "That's nice and all dad, but I know what the inside of the closet looks like."

Bella and Rikki laughed lightly, not wanting to hurt Cleo's or her dad's feelings.

"Cleo, why don't you look inside?" Don said, pushing his daughter lightly towards the closet. Cleo looked back at the others, confusion clearly written across her face. But Cleo obeyed her dad, and swung open the closet door.

Gasps came out of all of the girl's mouths; not expecting what was in the closet. The most they were expecting was a new vacuum—it wouldn't be that unusual, because adults seemed to usually get worked up over nothing. What they didn't expect was a real live human standing there!

She was holding a suitcase in her hand, which brushed up against her beige long pants. She was wearing a sky blue T-Shirt with yellow cursive written on it, advertising some swim academy. Her blue flip flips with yellow Hawaiian flowers printed all over them matched her shirt. The girl's straight blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a blue barrette was pinned in her hair. Her blue eyes danced with excitement as she looked over Cleo, Rikki and Bella.

Cleo let out a high-pitched squeal that made everyone jump. Rikki blinked rapidly, as if trying to decide if the person in front of her were real. Bella was just plain confused; who was this girl and why was she lounging in Cleo's closet?

"Emma?" shouted an excited Cleo. "Is it really you?"

"You think I'm some illusion?" Emma asked, and spread out her arms for a hug.

Cleo ran into her arms and with a few ounces of adrenaline she gained from being shocked at the sudden appearance of Emma in the closet, she lifted Emma into the air and spun her around until they were both dizzy.

Once Emma was lowered onto the ground, Rikki stepped up to Emma and looked over her, not saying a word. It was obvious that she was intrigued by how Emma had changed: she had gotten tanner, taller, and her hair was about two inches shorter. Her freckles appeared darker and stood out more on her cheeks, and her blue eyes seemed to get even bluer, if that we even possible. Emma's hair had also gone from her bleach blonde state to a little dirtier with some dark highlights.

"Rikki," whispered Emma, looking at Rikki. Rikki nodded slowly, not sure how to react to the arrival of Emma. Could it be true? Was Emma really back? Had it really been a whole year?

"Emma," Rikki whispered back, and then broke out in a full out grin. Rikki stepped forward and squeezed Emma so tightly that Emma had to signal to her that she was running out of air. When the two were done hugging, Emma, Cleo and Rikki all formed a little circle, each girl jumping up and down and excitedly chatting about the events that had occurred without each other, leaving Bella completely out of the conversation.

"I'll let you girls catch up," Don said, slowly backing away from the circle of girls.

Emma also stepped back and waved to Don. "Thanks so much for setting this up, Mr. Sertori!" Emma called giddily. "I owe you one!"

"Don't mention it," Don said, waving her off, and went to his room, clearly having no interest in their girl sleepover.

That was when Emma realized that there was a strange girl that she didn't know, just standing there, watching them with silent curiosity. Emma pushed a piece of her now shorter hair behind her ear and, turning to the mysterious blonde, said, trying to be polite, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Emma Gilbert." Emma extended her hand to Bella.

Bella examined her hand, as if examining it for germs. After a while, seeing as Emma would not put it down, she grasped it with a little more firmness than needed. "I'm Bella Hartley." And if claiming territory, she added, "Cleo and Rikki's best friend."

"Oh," Emma said, not shocked at all. Emma wasn't stupid; she had realized that if some other girl was there, than it was because they were friends. But the way Bella said best friends, as if telling her to back off, and that they were hers, really made her a little bit mad. "Ah, I was their friends also," she said, as if Rikki and Cleo weren't standing there. "We went through...a lot together," continued Emma, not wanting to give out their secret.

Cleo, oblivious to the awkwardness, laughed. "Guys, it's okay. Bella, Emma is a..." Cleo started, but then turned her attention to the door at the end of the hall that held Cleo's dad. Not wanting to say the word, "mermaid," and risk their secret being blown to Don, Cleo finished, "Uh, why don't we talk about this elsewhere? Like, downstairs? I have pizza, snacks, and movies!"

The girls all reluctantly agreed and went downstairs. When they were all situated on Cleo's comfy couch, Cleo said, "Like I was saying, Bella, Emma's a mermaid."

"Cleo!" Emma shouted, instantly bolting upright. "How could you?"

"Don't worry," said a too joyous Cleo. "Bella's a mermaid too."

"Really?" Emma said, obviously a little too curious. It seemed to upset her a bit that once she left, the girls found another mermaid friend. Or as Bella put it, another mermaid best friend.

"I didn't know you were a mermaid," Bella said. "Or that Cleo and Rikki knew a mermaid before me."

"Well, it just so happens that we all turned into mermaids together. We've been through everything," Emma said, smiling. This Bella chick was starting to get on her nerves.

"Obviously not everything, since you abandoned them," Bella retorted, batting her eyes innocently as if Emma had brought these cruel things upon herself. Before Emma could say anything else, Bella added, "I'm also positive that you guys didn't save the world from a comet that was hurtling towards Earth. Because Cleo, Rikki and I did."

Emma, not buying the phony innocent façade that Bella put up against her true center, shot back, "We were actually captured by a scientist. But, together, we escaped."

"Caught by a scientist? That's a big no-no of being a mermaid," said Bella, as if talking to a child. "How reckless of you."

"It wasn't my fault," Emma said, raising her voice a bit. Emma hated heated arguments like this, but someone stealing your best friends and then calling her "reckless," did not go in her book. "I'm just saying..."

"Guys!" screeched Rikki. "Stop it! Okay? You guys are both our friends! We aren't going to choose one over the other, and you guys need to accept that and learn to live with each other, okay? Now can we please just watch a movie or something?"

Both girls crossed their arms angrily, each wanting nothing to do with each other. But for Cleo and Rikki, they agreed.

Darkness quickly fell as they changed into their pajamas and ate pizza for dinner. When they all situated themselves onto the Cleo's couch (Rikki and Cleo in the middle between Emma and Bella, of course) Cleo slapped herself on the forehead. "How could I be so stupid?"

"What?" Emma said, worried for her friend.

Bella, not wanting to be excluded from the conversation, asked, "Yeah, what is it Cleo?" followed by a glare from Emma.

"I forgot the popcorn! How could I be so clueless? Popcorn is essential to a sleepover!" Cleo said, racking her brain for what she did bring: soda, candy, pizza, movies...how could she forget the popcorn?

"Oh, don't worry Cleo," Emma said. She turned and rummaged through her cute purple suitcase that she had bought while in Japan during her world tour. When her hand came out of the suitcase, she was clutching a few bags of un-popped popcorn. "I brought some just in case we needed any more."

"Ah, that's out Emma," Rikki said, jokingly elbowing her. "Always prepared."

When Cleo and Rikki weren't looking, Emma shot a smug smile in the direction of Bella. Bella just narrowed her eyes at Emma and shook her head, as if saying, You may think you've won, but the battle isn't over until someone comes out a winner.

Cleo went and put in the popcorn in the microwave. She listened to the steady hum of the microwave and as the faint popping of the popcorn began to become a loud uproar of hard brown kernels turning into deliciously lightly buttered popcorn.

Cleo dared a glance at the oven: 12:52 pm. Had it really been that long? She hoped that the microwave going wouldn't wake her dad or Kim. If Cleo even cared about Kim that much.

Once the flat bag had turned into a fluffed out steaming bag of popcorn, she opened the bag and let the steam roll out of the top. Funny, it kind of reminded Cleo of Rikki's heat ability.

Cleo went to popping another bag of popcorn—there were four girls, after all. Once that bag was done, she dumped that into a bowl, and then took the first bag that was newly cooled and threw it in another. She decided that two girls could share a bowl, but wouldn't have Emma and Bella share a bowl.

Cleo returned to the girls with the bowls in her two hands. She gave Rikki and Bella a green microwave safe bowl filled to the brim with popcorn. She then nestled the remaining blue bowl between herself and Emma.

"So, what movie should we watch first?" Rikki said, revealing that she had had the movies with her the whole time they'd arrived on the couch. "Breakfast at Tiffany's or Sixteen Candles?"

"Anything but Breakfast at Tiffany's," groaned Emma. "That brat Charlotte loved that movie. I never really cared for it. Let's watch Sixteen Candles."

"Hey now," Bella said. "Breakfast at Tiffany's is a great movie, thank you very much. I hate Sixteen Candles."

Emma, her anger now boiling to a high, which was unusual for such a calm and well-mannered person, said, "Well, I hate you."

Gasps escaped the lips of Cleo, Rikki and Bella. Rikki and Cleo knew how calm Emma could be, and that was unexpected and not Emma-like. Bella, now angry and not backing down, said, "Take that back." Her tone really scared and sent chills down Cleo and Rikki's spine.

"You make me," Emma said. The fight was unusual, no yelling, no violence, just soft and hurtful words. But sometimes those hurt the most.

Bella couldn't take it anymore. If that was what it would take to keep Cleo and Rikki's long lasting friendship, then it was just not worth it. Hot tears rolled down Bella's cheeks as she got up, and stormed to the back door. The girls followed in hot pursuit.

"Fine," Bella whispered, her face towards the back door. The girls were a few feet behind her. Bella turned around, her tears smudging her mascara and making it run all over the place. "Then remember this, Emma Gilbert: I hate you too. I always will. Nothing will change that." With that, she spun around and wrenched the door open, so fast and hard that Cleo feared that it would come off at its hinges. She turned back to the girls. "Enjoy your friendship, bitches, because it won't last," Bella hissed venomously. She stepped into the cold and eerie night, the silence as strong as the silence between Emma and Bella. "I will always hate you! Always!" chanted Bella, and she slammed the door, stomping off into the night.

"Oh my God," Emma said, falling to her knees. She cupped her face in her hands, and choked sobs escaped. "What have I done? I usually wouldn't do that, but I was so mad, my emotions were just—"

"No, shh, Emma," Cleo said, kneeling down to Emma. She stroked her hair comfortingly. "Don't worry. I don't blame you or her for acting the way you guys did."

Rikki kneeled down by Emma, also, and started to rub her back. "Exactly. By tomorrow, we will get you guys together, and you can sort out your differences—if you're willing, that is."

"You sure?" said Emma, taking her hands off her face. She had stopped crying.

"Definitely," Rikki said. "You just watch."

At that moment, a clap of thunder and a roll of lightning was heard and seen out the window. The girls shrieked in terror, and hoped that Don and Kim hadn't heard them. No rain fell from the heavens, though. Yet.

"God, Bella's out there," Emma said, finally standing up. "What if she gets struck by lightning or something? It would be all my fault!"

"No, it wouldn't," Cleo said, trying to sooth the still distressed Emma.

"Well, I have to go and find her. I don't care how much she hates me, I have to at least try and persuade her to come in." Emma stood and swiped a yellow flashlight off of Cleo's table that had a few cracks in it, and looked like it had been through a lot.

"Wait," Rikki said, running up to Emma, who was heading out the door. "Let us come with you."

"No," said a firm Emma. "This is my fault, and I have to pay the price by going to find her. I have to hurry guys, she's getting away!"

"Please, Emma," Cleo said. "It'll be better with three people. We can find her faster." Cleo grabbed a hot pink jacket that was hanging up on a coat rack by the door. "Just give us a second to get on our shoes."

"No!" Emma howled, which made Rikki and Cleo stop cold. "That will take too long! Please guys, I have to do this." Without waiting for so much as an answer, Emma took off.

Rikki and Cleo went over to the side window to see Emma slicing through the dark of the night, with only the light of the flashlight guiding her way. They watched her mouth repeat a word over and over again that they could only guess by lip reading as much as they could in the dark: it looked like she was saying Bella. They watched as she went farther and farther away from the house, her figure growing smaller and smaller and the light growing dimmer and dimmer until they could no longer see either.

"I can't see her anymore!" cried an exasperated Cleo as she shut the blinds: what was the point of keeping them open? She couldn't see Emma so keeping them open would only make her more distressed.

"She might be a while; Bella's a hard character to persuade," Rikki said soothingly. "Let's look on the bright side: she's probably convinced Bella, and they are heading here right now!"

"I hope," Cleo said, and stuffed a handful of popcorn into her dry mouth to stop the feeling of dread starting in the pit of her stomach.

Ten minutes later, Cleo was really anxious, and was seconds away from bolting up and running out into the blackness of the night to find the girls. Even Rikki, the calm and sturdy one, was getting antsy.

"That's it!" cried Cleo, jumping up. "I can't take it anymore!" Cleo ran to the door and swiped the last remaining flashlight off the countertop. "I'm going to go find them!"

The back door then suddenly swung open. The girls screamed, watching a dark figure stagger into the house and switch off her flashlight.

"Shut up!" barked a hoarse Emma. She seemed really different from when she left, as if something out there changed her.

"Well?" asked anxious Cleo, ready to claw into the details of where Bella was.

"I couldn't find her!" admitted Emma, picking a dry brown leaf out of her dirty blonde hair. She brushed her hands together, trying to get some sticky mud off her hands.

"What happened to you?" Cleo asked, looking Emma up and down. She looked like a train wreck. Emma was caked in mud, grass and leaves, as if she was looking for Bella underground. Cleo also noticed a bunch of bleeding scrapes on her hands, and a cut on her arm.

"I fell," said an embarrassed Emma. As she observed herself, she added, "Multiple times. It's slippery out there."

"I see," Rikki said. "Here, Cleo and I will go look for Bella a bit more. If we can't find her, we'll call the police, 'kay?"

Emma shifted uncomfortably. "What about me? I can help."

"Not now. You go and clean up, okay? You need to get the dirt out of those cuts," Cleo said. She flickered on the light and asked Rikki, "Ready to go?"

"Not without me," said Emma firmly. "Remember? It's my fault! So I go too. I'll risk an infection in the cuts if it means finding Bella."

"Alright," sighed Rikki. She turned to Cleo. "Got another flashlight?"

"No, sorry," Cleo apologized. "You want to make a torch or something with your powers?"

"Nah, I can go with Emma," Rikki said. "Just in case she has a concussion or something for falling so much."

"Thanks," said Emma sarcastically, even though deep down she was touched that Rikki cared so deeply, and didn't disagree with the fact that she might have a concussion. "Well, are we going to go, or wait around here for Bella to get struck with some lightning?"

So the girls set out to look. Rikki did end up lighting a torch with her powers to provide more light, but she didn't leave Emma's side. And Emma didn't attempt to leave Rikki's side.

They searched for about an hour, just until Emma was about to collapse for exhaustion and maybe even a possible concussion. But they still trudged ahead.

"What direction was she headed in?" asked Rikki, flashing the light of the torch towards the east.

"I don't know, straight!" Cleo said, shining her flashlight ahead. "Do you think she went to the ocean?"

"No, she's smarter than that," Rikki said, looking behind some trees to where she might be hiding, watching them. Or maybe someone else was watching them. That thought sent shivers down her spine.

"Smarter than what?" Emma asked, her tone unusual and different from her usual tone.

"Than to go swimming in this pitch black nothingness," Rikki said, looking at Emma.

"Guys, are we going to be looking much longer?" Emma asked.

"I don't know," Rikki said, flashing the light from her torch to get a good look at Emma. "Why?"

Emma winced from the sudden brightness that hit her eyes, and covered up her eyes with her hands, in a sort of 'stop' position.

"Wait, Emma, don't..." Rikki started, but it was too late. Emma had put out the fire accidentally with her freezing abilities.

"Great," Rikki groaned, but re-lit the torch.

"Sorry," Emma said, her words a little bit slurred. "I just have a headache, and that didn't help."

"You have a headache?" said a surprised Cleo. She rushed over to the others, and asked Rikki, "Do you think she has a concussion or something?"

"No, I don't," Emma said matter-of-factly.  
"I'm just...just..." The words didn't seem to come out correctly. Emma stumbled forward a bit, her footing wobbly. Then, she came crashing down.

"Emma!" cried the girls, their screams piercing through the night like and arrow. They rushed and kneeled down by the woozy Emma, who was on her knees.

"I'm...fine," she said. "I just have a headache, is all."

Rikki turned to Cleo. "Let's get back to your house, okay? This isn't worth it. We can call the police and they can take care of it. We need to get Emma back to the house."

"I'm fine," repeated Emma over and over again as Cleo and Rikki lugged her back to the house. Between her repeating that, she kept saying, "Bella. We must find Bella."

"Not tonight," Rikki said, helping Emma back to the house so she wouldn't fall again. "She probably was just trying to hitch hike back to her house. The police will make sure everything's okay, don't worry." It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Emma.

"But I'm fine. We must find Bella," insisted a confused Emma for about the fifteenth time that night.

Ignoring Emma fully now, Cleo said, "Her stuff is still at my house. We can give it to the police." Rikki quickly agreed.

When they reached Cleo's house, Rikki put out the torch, and threw the thick charred stick out into the yard. They then brought Emma into the safe, warm house.

Emma, now realizing that they wouldn't be searching anymore, snatched Cleo's phone. "Let's call the police, then."

"She really feels guilty," Cleo said, looking at Rikki.

Rikki looked back and nodded sadly. "I wish that she didn't feel that way, though."

Cleo went over to Emma and took the phone from her hands. "I'll do that," she said. "But first you need ice."

Together, Rikki and Cleo washed Emma's wounds so that no more dirt got into them. Then they bandaged them, and gave Emma an ice pack, which she gratefully took and held to her head.

Emma soon fell asleep about a half an hour later, around three in the morning.

"You going to call the police?" Rikki asked, motioning to the phone that was sitting on Cleo's table.

"At three in the morning? I don't think dad would appreciate the police at our front door at this time in the morning," whispered Cleo, not wanting to disturb Don and Kim. She was amazed that they hadn't woken up yet. "I just said that so Emma would fall asleep easier. I'll call the police tomorrow. She's probably at her house, asleep while we're still up. And if Emma is still bad, we'll tell her mom to take her to a doctor. Trust me Rikki, everything will work out just fine."

"Okay," Rikki said, deciding to trust Cleo. "Let's just go to bed, okay? I'm exhausted."

So the girls spent a sleepless night on Cleo's couch.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the (long) prologue! The next chapter will kind of be a conclusion to the prologue, because you need to read what happens after that night. Remember that in this mystery, even the smallest things could be a major clue. So thanks for reading! Next chapter up IDK when. Ciao!

Prologue: Bella and Emma, The Enemies

-Third POV-

"Hey, Bells," an ecstatic Cleo said, opening the door to reveal none other than Bella Hartley, suitcase in her hand. Her dirty blonde hair was tousled to perfection and draped on her shoulders, which really brought out the pretty blue color in her eyes, which, evidentially, matched her crystal blue tank top. Her ripped dark jeans were a simple touch to flair up her outfit. Bella Hartley looked good in anything.

"Come on in," Cleo said, stepping away from the warmth seeping into the hallway. "Rikki is already here picking out some movies we can watch tonight. We can go and help."

"Great," said Bella, stepping into the doorway. The surroundings were so familiar that she could have called it her own home. Cleo led her down the hallway, where Bella dropped her stuff on Cleo's couch. They then joined Rikki, who was quietly shuffling through the movies.

"Hey, guys," said Rikki, looking up to see the two figures enter the doorway. "Bella! Glad you could come."

"Of course!" said Bella, all smiles. "It's great to go to a sleepover that doesn't involve a full moon and getting moonstruck. Plus, it helps me get my mind off of..." Bella instantly shut up and her eyes trailed to the countertop as if she had revealed too much already. "Nothing."

"Get your mind off of what?" Rikki asked, her eyes leaving the huge stack of DVDs and going to Bella. "You can tell us. We're best friends."

"Okay," Bella said, looking up, her smile returning full center on her lips. "You're right. We're friends. See, I had a fight with Will today."

"What about?" Cleo asked, leaning on the table with her elbows, her hand cupping her chin in the right direction so that she was looking deep into Bella's endless blue eyes.

"Just something stupid. I'm sure we'll make up tomorrow." Bella instantly got off the touchy subject by directing her eyes to the two large pizza boxes sitting on the table. "What kind of pizza are those?"

"Uh," Cleo said, dumbly looking at Rikki. Rikki shrugged, signaling that if Bella didn't want to talk about it, they probably shouldn't bring it up. Cleo looked at the pizza boxes and pointed to the one on the right. "Cheese pizza," she said, and then pointed to the left. "Pepperoni and mushroom."

"Dibs on a slice of cheese," Bella said, smiling. She scooted closer to the cheese box.

"As long as I get pepperoni and mushroom!" hollered Rikki.

"You two are so full of it," Cleo said, grinning. She got out a huge stack of paper plates and some cups. She set them down on the table. "We can eat after we set everything up."

"What's there to set up?" groaned an obviously hungry Rikki.

"Our sleeping bags. And we still have to pick out a couple movies to watch," Cleo said, picking up the heavy stack of movies. "How about we each pick one?"

"Two," challenged Bella, laughing. "We're staying up all night, right?"

"I guess," said Cleo. "I don't really think it matters."

"Then we'll stay up all night." Bella's word was final.

The girls all scooted closer together and pawed through the thick stack. Once they were almost done choosing movies, Cleo's dad walked in. "Hey, girls, I have a big surprise for you."

"What is it, Mr. Sertori?" Rikki asked, backing away from the movies.

"Come with me," he said, and the girls followed him upstairs, down the hall, and found themselves facing a wooden door.

"The closet, dad?" Cleo said. She shifted her weight to her other foot. "That's nice and all dad, but I know what the inside of the closet looks like."

Bella and Rikki laughed lightly, not wanting to hurt Cleo's or her dad's feelings.

"Cleo, why don't you look inside?" Don said, pushing his daughter lightly towards the closet. Cleo looked back at the others, confusion clearly written across her face. But Cleo obeyed her dad, and swung open the closet door.

Gasps came out of all of the girl's mouths; not expecting what was in the closet. The most they were expecting was a new vacuum—it wouldn't be that unusual, because adults seemed to usually get worked up over nothing. What they didn't expect was a real live human standing there!

She was holding a suitcase in her hand, which brushed up against her beige long pants. She was wearing a sky blue T-Shirt with yellow cursive written on it, advertising some swim academy. Her blue flip flips with yellow Hawaiian flowers printed all over them matched her shirt. The girl's straight blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a blue barrette was pinned in her hair. Her blue eyes danced with excitement as she looked over Cleo, Rikki and Bella.

Cleo let out a high-pitched squeal that made everyone jump. Rikki blinked rapidly, as if trying to decide if the person in front of her were real. Bella was just plain confused; who was this girl and why was she lounging in Cleo's closet?

"Emma?" shouted an excited Cleo. "Is it really you?"

"You think I'm some illusion?" Emma asked, and spread out her arms for a hug.

Cleo ran into her arms and with a few ounces of adrenaline she gained from being shocked at the sudden appearance of Emma in the closet, she lifted Emma into the air and spun her around until they were both dizzy.

Once Emma was lowered onto the ground, Rikki stepped up to Emma and looked over her, not saying a word. It was obvious that she was intrigued by how Emma had changed: she had gotten tanner, taller, and her hair was about two inches shorter. Her freckles appeared darker and stood out more on her cheeks, and her blue eyes seemed to get even bluer, if that we even possible. Emma's hair had also gone from her bleach blonde state to a little dirtier with some dark highlights.

"Rikki," whispered Emma, looking at Rikki. Rikki nodded slowly, not sure how to react to the arrival of Emma. Could it be true? Was Emma really back? Had it really been a whole year?

"Emma," Rikki whispered back, and then broke out in a full out grin. Rikki stepped forward and squeezed Emma so tightly that Emma had to signal to her that she was running out of air. When the two were done hugging, Emma, Cleo and Rikki all formed a little circle, each girl jumping up and down and excitedly chatting about the events that had occurred without each other, leaving Bella completely out of the conversation.

"I'll let you girls catch up," Don said, slowly backing away from the circle of girls.

Emma also stepped back and waved to Don. "Thanks so much for setting this up, Mr. Sertori!" Emma called giddily. "I owe you one!"

"Don't mention it," Don said, waving her off, and went to his room, clearly having no interest in their girl sleepover.

That was when Emma realized that there was a strange girl that she didn't know, just standing there, watching them with silent curiosity. Emma pushed a piece of her now shorter hair behind her ear and, turning to the mysterious blonde, said, trying to be polite, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Emma Gilbert." Emma extended her hand to Bella.

Bella examined her hand, as if examining it for germs. After a while, seeing as Emma would not put it down, she grasped it with a little more firmness than needed. "I'm Bella Hartley." And if claiming territory, she added, "Cleo and Rikki's best friend."

"Oh," Emma said, not shocked at all. Emma wasn't stupid; she had realized that if some other girl was there, than it was because they were friends. But the way Bella said best friends, as if telling her to back off, and that they were hers, really made her a little bit mad. "Ah, I was their friends also," she said, as if Rikki and Cleo weren't standing there. "We went through...a lot together," continued Emma, not wanting to give out their secret.

Cleo, oblivious to the awkwardness, laughed. "Guys, it's okay. Bella, Emma is a..." Cleo started, but then turned her attention to the door at the end of the hall that held Cleo's dad. Not wanting to say the word, "mermaid," and risk their secret being blown to Don, Cleo finished, "Uh, why don't we talk about this elsewhere? Like, downstairs? I have pizza, snacks, and movies!"

The girls all reluctantly agreed and went downstairs. When they were all situated on Cleo's comfy couch, Cleo said, "Like I was saying, Bella, Emma's a mermaid."

"Cleo!" Emma shouted, instantly bolting upright. "How could you?"

"Don't worry," said a too joyous Cleo. "Bella's a mermaid too."

"Really?" Emma said, obviously a little too curious. It seemed to upset her a bit that once she left, the girls found another mermaid friend. Or as Bella put it, another mermaid best friend.

"I didn't know you were a mermaid," Bella said. "Or that Cleo and Rikki knew a mermaid before me."

"Well, it just so happens that we all turned into mermaids together. We've been through everything," Emma said, smiling. This Bella chick was starting to get on her nerves.

"Obviously not everything, since you abandoned them," Bella retorted, batting her eyes innocently as if Emma had brought these cruel things upon herself. Before Emma could say anything else, Bella added, "I'm also positive that you guys didn't save the world from a comet that was hurtling towards Earth. Because Cleo, Rikki and I did."

Emma, not buying the phony innocent façade that Bella put up against her true center, shot back, "We were actually captured by a scientist. But, together, we escaped."

"Caught by a scientist? That's a big no-no of being a mermaid," said Bella, as if talking to a child. "How reckless of you."

"It wasn't my fault," Emma said, raising her voice a bit. Emma hated heated arguments like this, but someone stealing your best friends and then calling her "reckless," did not go in her book. "I'm just saying..."

"Guys!" screeched Rikki. "Stop it! Okay? You guys are both our friends! We aren't going to choose one over the other, and you guys need to accept that and learn to live with each other, okay? Now can we please just watch a movie or something?"

Both girls crossed their arms angrily, each wanting nothing to do with each other. But for Cleo and Rikki, they agreed.

Darkness quickly fell as they changed into their pajamas and ate pizza for dinner. When they all situated themselves onto the Cleo's couch (Rikki and Cleo in the middle between Emma and Bella, of course) Cleo slapped herself on the forehead. "How could I be so stupid?"

"What?" Emma said, worried for her friend.

Bella, not wanting to be excluded from the conversation, asked, "Yeah, what is it Cleo?" followed by a glare from Emma.

"I forgot the popcorn! How could I be so clueless? Popcorn is essential to a sleepover!" Cleo said, racking her brain for what she did bring: soda, candy, pizza, movies...how could she forget the popcorn?

"Oh, don't worry Cleo," Emma said. She turned and rummaged through her cute purple suitcase that she had bought while in Japan during her world tour. When her hand came out of the suitcase, she was clutching a few bags of un-popped popcorn. "I brought some just in case we needed any more."

"Ah, that's out Emma," Rikki said, jokingly elbowing her. "Always prepared."

When Cleo and Rikki weren't looking, Emma shot a smug smile in the direction of Bella. Bella just narrowed her eyes at Emma and shook her head, as if saying, You may think you've won, but the battle isn't over until someone comes out a winner.

Cleo went and put in the popcorn in the microwave. She listened to the steady hum of the microwave and as the faint popping of the popcorn began to become a loud uproar of hard brown kernels turning into deliciously lightly buttered popcorn.

Cleo dared a glance at the oven: 12:52 pm. Had it really been that long? She hoped that the microwave going wouldn't wake her dad or Kim. If Cleo even cared about Kim that much.

Once the flat bag had turned into a fluffed out steaming bag of popcorn, she opened the bag and let the steam roll out of the top. Funny, it kind of reminded Cleo of Rikki's heat ability.

Cleo went to popping another bag of popcorn—there were four girls, after all. Once that bag was done, she dumped that into a bowl, and then took the first bag that was newly cooled and threw it in another. She decided that two girls could share a bowl, but wouldn't have Emma and Bella share a bowl.

Cleo returned to the girls with the bowls in her two hands. She gave Rikki and Bella a green microwave safe bowl filled to the brim with popcorn. She then nestled the remaining blue bowl between herself and Emma.

"So, what movie should we watch first?" Rikki said, revealing that she had had the movies with her the whole time they'd arrived on the couch. "Breakfast at Tiffany's or Sixteen Candles?"

"Anything but Breakfast at Tiffany's," groaned Emma. "That brat Charlotte loved that movie. I never really cared for it. Let's watch Sixteen Candles."

"Hey now," Bella said. "Breakfast at Tiffany's is a great movie, thank you very much. I hate Sixteen Candles."

Emma, her anger now boiling to a high, which was unusual for such a calm and well-mannered person, said, "Well, I hate you."

Gasps escaped the lips of Cleo, Rikki and Bella. Rikki and Cleo knew how calm Emma could be, and that was unexpected and not Emma-like. Bella, now angry and not backing down, said, "Take that back." Her tone really scared and sent chills down Cleo and Rikki's spine.

"You make me," Emma said. The fight was unusual, no yelling, no violence, just soft and hurtful words. But sometimes those hurt the most.

Bella couldn't take it anymore. If that was what it would take to keep Cleo and Rikki's long lasting friendship, then it was just not worth it. Hot tears rolled down Bella's cheeks as she got up, and stormed to the back door. The girls followed in hot pursuit.

"Fine," Bella whispered, her face towards the back door. The girls were a few feet behind her. Bella turned around, her tears smudging her mascara and making it run all over the place. "Then remember this, Emma Gilbert: I hate you too. I always will. Nothing will change that." With that, she spun around and wrenched the door open, so fast and hard that Cleo feared that it would come off at its hinges. She turned back to the girls. "Enjoy your friendship, bitches, because it won't last," Bella hissed venomously. She stepped into the cold and eerie night, the silence as strong as the silence between Emma and Bella. "I will always hate you! Always!" chanted Bella, and she slammed the door, stomping off into the night.

"Oh my God," Emma said, falling to her knees. She cupped her face in her hands, and choked sobs escaped. "What have I done? I usually wouldn't do that, but I was so mad, my emotions were just—"

"No, shh, Emma," Cleo said, kneeling down to Emma. She stroked her hair comfortingly. "Don't worry. I don't blame you or her for acting the way you guys did."

Rikki kneeled down by Emma, also, and started to rub her back. "Exactly. By tomorrow, we will get you guys together, and you can sort out your differences—if you're willing, that is."

"You sure?" said Emma, taking her hands off her face. She had stopped crying.

"Definitely," Rikki said. "You just watch."

At that moment, a clap of thunder and a roll of lightning was heard and seen out the window. The girls shrieked in terror, and hoped that Don and Kim hadn't heard them. No rain fell from the heavens, though. Yet.

"God, Bella's out there," Emma said, finally standing up. "What if she gets struck by lightning or something? It would be all my fault!"

"No, it wouldn't," Cleo said, trying to sooth the still distressed Emma.

"Well, I have to go and find her. I don't care how much she hates me, I have to at least try and persuade her to come in." Emma stood and swiped a yellow flashlight off of Cleo's table that had a few cracks in it, and looked like it had been through a lot.

"Wait," Rikki said, running up to Emma, who was heading out the door. "Let us come with you."

"No," said a firm Emma. "This is my fault, and I have to pay the price by going to find her. I have to hurry guys, she's getting away!"

"Please, Emma," Cleo said. "It'll be better with three people. We can find her faster." Cleo grabbed a hot pink jacket that was hanging up on a coat rack by the door. "Just give us a second to get on our shoes."

"No!" Emma howled, which made Rikki and Cleo stop cold. "That will take too long! Please guys, I have to do this." Without waiting for so much as an answer, Emma took off.

Rikki and Cleo went over to the side window to see Emma slicing through the dark of the night, with only the light of the flashlight guiding her way. They watched her mouth repeat a word over and over again that they could only guess by lip reading as much as they could in the dark: it looked like she was saying Bella. They watched as she went farther and farther away from the house, her figure growing smaller and smaller and the light growing dimmer and dimmer until they could no longer see either.

"I can't see her anymore!" cried an exasperated Cleo as she shut the blinds: what was the point of keeping them open? She couldn't see Emma so keeping them open would only make her more distressed.

"She might be a while; Bella's a hard character to persuade," Rikki said soothingly. "Let's look on the bright side: she's probably convinced Bella, and they are heading here right now!"

"I hope," Cleo said, and stuffed a handful of popcorn into her dry mouth to stop the feeling of dread starting in the pit of her stomach.

Ten minutes later, Cleo was really anxious, and was seconds away from bolting up and running out into the blackness of the night to find the girls. Even Rikki, the calm and sturdy one, was getting antsy.

"That's it!" cried Cleo, jumping up. "I can't take it anymore!" Cleo ran to the door and swiped the last remaining flashlight off the countertop. "I'm going to go find them!"

The back door then suddenly swung open. The girls screamed, watching a dark figure stagger into the house and switch off her flashlight.

"Shut up!" barked a hoarse Emma. She seemed really different from when she left, as if something out there changed her.

"Well?" asked anxious Cleo, ready to claw into the details of where Bella was.

"I couldn't find her!" admitted Emma, picking a dry brown leaf out of her dirty blonde hair. She brushed her hands together, trying to get some sticky mud off her hands.

"What happened to you?" Cleo asked, looking Emma up and down. She looked like a train wreck. Emma was caked in mud, grass and leaves, as if she was looking for Bella underground. Cleo also noticed a bunch of bleeding scrapes on her hands, and a cut on her arm.

"I fell," said an embarrassed Emma. As she observed herself, she added, "Multiple times. It's slippery out there."

"I see," Rikki said. "Here, Cleo and I will go look for Bella a bit more. If we can't find her, we'll call the police, 'kay?"

Emma shifted uncomfortably. "What about me? I can help."

"Not now. You go and clean up, okay? You need to get the dirt out of those cuts," Cleo said. She flickered on the light and asked Rikki, "Ready to go?"

"Not without me," said Emma firmly. "Remember? It's my fault! So I go too. I'll risk an infection in the cuts if it means finding Bella."

"Alright," sighed Rikki. She turned to Cleo. "Got another flashlight?"

"No, sorry," Cleo apologized. "You want to make a torch or something with your powers?"

"Nah, I can go with Emma," Rikki said. "Just in case she has a concussion or something for falling so much."

"Thanks," said Emma sarcastically, even though deep down she was touched that Rikki cared so deeply, and didn't disagree with the fact that she might have a concussion. "Well, are we going to go, or wait around here for Bella to get struck with some lightning?"

So the girls set out to look. Rikki did end up lighting a torch with her powers to provide more light, but she didn't leave Emma's side. And Emma didn't attempt to leave Rikki's side.

They searched for about an hour, just until Emma was about to collapse for exhaustion and maybe even a possible concussion. But they still trudged ahead.

"What direction was she headed in?" asked Rikki, flashing the light of the torch towards the east.

"I don't know, straight!" Cleo said, shining her flashlight ahead. "Do you think she went to the ocean?"

"No, she's smarter than that," Rikki said, looking behind some trees to where she might be hiding, watching them. Or maybe someone else was watching them. That thought sent shivers down her spine.

"Smarter than what?" Emma asked, her tone unusual and different from her usual tone.

"Than to go swimming in this pitch black nothingness," Rikki said, looking at Emma.

"Guys, are we going to be looking much longer?" Emma asked.

"I don't know," Rikki said, flashing the light from her torch to get a good look at Emma. "Why?"

Emma winced from the sudden brightness that hit her eyes, and covered up her eyes with her hands, in a sort of 'stop' position.

"Wait, Emma, don't..." Rikki started, but it was too late. Emma had put out the fire accidentally with her freezing abilities.

"Great," Rikki groaned, but re-lit the torch.

"Sorry," Emma said, her words a little bit slurred. "I just have a headache, and that didn't help."

"You have a headache?" said a surprised Cleo. She rushed over to the others, and asked Rikki, "Do you think she has a concussion or something?"

"No, I don't," Emma said matter-of-factly.  
"I'm just...just..." The words didn't seem to come out correctly. Emma stumbled forward a bit, her footing wobbly. Then, she came crashing down.

"Emma!" cried the girls, their screams piercing through the night like and arrow. They rushed and kneeled down by the woozy Emma, who was on her knees.

"I'm...fine," she said. "I just have a headache, is all."

Rikki turned to Cleo. "Let's get back to your house, okay? This isn't worth it. We can call the police and they can take care of it. We need to get Emma back to the house."

"I'm fine," repeated Emma over and over again as Cleo and Rikki lugged her back to the house. Between her repeating that, she kept saying, "Bella. We must find Bella."

"Not tonight," Rikki said, helping Emma back to the house so she wouldn't fall again. "She probably was just trying to hitch hike back to her house. The police will make sure everything's okay, don't worry." It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Emma.

"But I'm fine. We must find Bella," insisted a confused Emma for about the fifteenth time that night.

Ignoring Emma fully now, Cleo said, "Her stuff is still at my house. We can give it to the police." Rikki quickly agreed.

When they reached Cleo's house, Rikki put out the torch, and threw the thick charred stick out into the yard. They then brought Emma into the safe, warm house.

Emma, now realizing that they wouldn't be searching anymore, snatched Cleo's phone. "Let's call the police, then."

"She really feels guilty," Cleo said, looking at Rikki.

Rikki looked back and nodded sadly. "I wish that she didn't feel that way, though."

Cleo went over to Emma and took the phone from her hands. "I'll do that," she said. "But first you need ice."

Together, Rikki and Cleo washed Emma's wounds so that no more dirt got into them. Then they bandaged them, and gave Emma an ice pack, which she gratefully took and held to her head.

Emma soon fell asleep about a half an hour later, around three in the morning.

"You going to call the police?" Rikki asked, motioning to the phone that was sitting on Cleo's table.

"At three in the morning? I don't think dad would appreciate the police at our front door at this time in the morning," whispered Cleo, not wanting to disturb Don and Kim. She was amazed that they hadn't woken up yet. "I just said that so Emma would fall asleep easier. I'll call the police tomorrow. She's probably at her house, asleep while we're still up. And if Emma is still bad, we'll tell her mom to take her to a doctor. Trust me Rikki, everything will work out just fine."

"Okay," Rikki said, deciding to trust Cleo. "Let's just go to bed, okay? I'm exhausted."

So the girls spent a sleepless night on Cleo's couch.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the (long) prologue! The next chapter will kind of be a conclusion to the prologue, because you need to read what happens after that night. Remember that in this mystery, even the smallest things could be a major clue. So thanks for reading! remember the first 13 chapter are by h2o4ever I give all credit to her its just such an amazing story I want everyone to read it :)


	2. Chapter 2 prolouge cont aftermath

**A/N: So this is like a continued version of the prologue! And again this chapter is from h2o4ever I hope you enjoy and please review so I can know if I'm posting this for nothing.**

**Prologue (cont.): Aftermath**

**_-Emma POV-_**

My splitting headache did not easily subside with my awakening.

When I woke up, warn sunlight was streaming through the window and onto me, as if trying to tell me that nothing was wrong in the world, and absolutely nothing was stopping me from dropping back into my continuous slumber forever. But a nagging feeling in my stomach told me to get up, and get the others up.

I slowly got up, and an explosion of pain burst in my skull like a thousand firecrackers on the 4th of July. I groaned as I put a hand to my head. I glanced down at my other hand, which felt unusually cold.

My other hand was clutching a small bag filled with ice-cold water; I assumed it used to be filled with ice cubes that had melted. I took the ice bag and put it on my head to sooth my headache.

I was amazed that I was able to get up off the couch and walk around. I needed to go to the bathroom bad, so I wobbled to there.

When I was done, I looked at myself in the mirror, and it told all I had not to gasp. A bruise was blooming on the right of my forehead, and there was a bandage on my arm. My hair was messed up, and I looked horrible.

I walked out of the bathroom steadily—or at least I tried to be steady. I was still pretty dizzy. It was almost like a hangover.

I drained the cold water out of the plastic bag and filled it again with ice. I put it to my throbbing head and tried to coo it to get better.

I silently walked over to where Rikki and Cleo were passed out cold, all toppled on top of each other. I kneeled down next to them and gently shook them and told them to wake up.

Cleo's eyes fluttered open and looked around the room, where her eyes landed on me. "Emma?" she asked. Cleo sat up and shook Rikki awake. "Rikki, wake up," she urgently cooed.

"Five more minutes," Rikki said groggily, stirring slightly to the sound of her name.

"No, Rikki, wake up _now_," Cleo said, shaking her firmly. "We need to call the police."

"Huh?" I said, looking at Cleo. "Why do we have to call the police?"

"Sorry, Em, I know we promised to call yesterday night, but it was like, three in the morning," Cleo said apologetically.

"What?" I asked, now _really_ confused.

"You don't remember?" said Cleo, surprised.

Rikki sat up on the couch, propping herself up on her elbows. "You really don't remember?"

"Not really," I said honestly. "Was there a full moon? Was I moonstruck?"

"No," Cleo said. "There wasn't a full moon. And we were having a sleepover with Bella?"

"Bella?" I asked, not struck with any remembrance. Then it hit me. "Oh, _Bella_," I said, my tone even. "She...she got lost, right?"

"Yeah, then you tried to find her," Rikki added. "And you fell a couple times."

"That's probably why she didn't remember," Cleo said, finally getting it. "She hit her head and got a concussion. Does it still hurt?"

"Yeah," I said, shuffling the ice in the bag by squeezing the bag. I wasn't holding the bag to my head anymore because it was making my skin go numb. But my head was still throbbing so I replaced it on my forehead.

"Why don't I call Bella's parents?" Cleo offered. "To see if Bella is there. If she is, we don't have to bother calling the police."

"And if she's not there?" I asked, moving the bag of ice to another place on my head.

"I'll call the police," Cleo said. "We'll get this whole thing sorted out, you'll see."

I sat down on her couch as Cleo got up and marched to her home phone nestled in a charging tower on her countertop. She picked it up and dialed a number super fast from her memory; probably from all that texting. She held it up to her ear and bit her lip as she waited anxiously for someone to pick up. After about the fourth ring, she started talking, which could only mean someone picked up.

I rested my head back on a pillow, which was huddled in a corner of the couch. I heard Cleo said, "Hi, Mrs. Hartley? This is Cleo...yes. I was just calling to ask if Bella was at your house...I know. Yeah, but she stormed out of the house, and when we went to look we couldn't find her...Yes. Yeah, I will do so. Ten minutes? Okay. Good bye."

"What did she say?" Rikki asked, standing up while I sat relaxed and sprawled out on her couch.

"Was she there?" I asked, shifting the ice bag again. I regained some of my memory to remember that her running away was partly my fault, and I was really upset.  
"No," Cleo said sadly, letting out a deep breath. I groaned, and buried my face in the pillow.

"Then what did she say?" asked Rikki.

"She said to call the police. Mrs. and Mr. Hartley are coming over, they said about ten minutes." Cleo sat down next to me and took a few deep breaths. She then whipped out the phone again, and started to press the "0" when I stopped her.

"No, Cleo, I'll call the police. It's my fault, and I really don't think you could handle it very easily," I said, trying to be comforting.

"Okay," Cleo said, hesitating at first. She handed over the phone to I, who then proceeded to dial "000."

I waited as the phone rang twice, then someone picked up. "Australian Emergency Department, what is your emergency?"

"Uh, hi," I said. I had never called 000 before, so I had no idea if you were supposed to greet each other. "My name is Emma Gilbert. Yesterday night, my...uh..._friend_, Bella Hartley, went missing. We were having a sleepover, and she got mad because...private reasons. And she just stormed off, and we couldn't find her. And she wasn't at her house, either."

"Has it been twenty four hours?" the gruff male voice asked.

I gritted my teeth. "_No_. Like I said, it happened yesterday night..."

"Sorry sweetheart, we can't do any thing for a missing person unless it has been twenty four hours." I instantly despised him, whoever he was. He sounded like he didn't care for our needs and would do anything to get off manning the hotlines.

"I'm not your sweetheart!" I yelled. I glanced at Rikki, and we exchanged timid remembering smiles, when we thought about when Rikki was tricked by a con man that always called her "sweetheart," and she had repeated those exact words. "Sorry. But isn't there _anything_ you can do?"

The man sighed loudly outwardly, and I just decided to suck it up and deal with him if that was what it took. "Look, okay, we can send, say, a couple policemen out there to take a look, and ask questions."

"Oh, thank you!" I cried. I ignored the "yeah, yeah," I got from him, and quickly told him the address to our house, and giddily hung up the phone.

"What'd he say?" asked a curious Cleo as I handed the wireless phone back to her.

"He said he'll send a couple policemen down here to investigate," I said.

"Alright. Bella's parents will be here shortly, so that doesn't give us much time to get ready and change out of our pajamas. I'll go tell dad what happened, and you guys get ready, okay?" Cleo said.

"Sure,"  
Rikki and I both agreed, but when I tried to get up, I felt horrible. All I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and never walk again. I felt like vomiting.

"What's wrong?" Cleo asked as I settled myself back down on the couch.

"I just don't feel like getting up. I think I might puke. Maybe I've got the flu or something?" It was my best guess.

"Probably the concussion. You should go the doctor," Cleo advised.

"Maybe," I said, not really planning to do it. But if it helped me feel better, of course I would go for it.

"You can stay there, Rikki and I will get ready." Cleo then left me alone in the room.

I rubbed the ice bag all over my head, mostly in the spots that hurt the most. I got pretty bored waiting for the girls, so I resorted to listening to the sounds around the room: the pipes, and air-conditioning in the wall, and the thuds and muted voices of Rikki, Cleo, Don and Kim above.

I sat on the couch, counting the minutes it was taking them to get done dressing. I was getting the creeps just sitting in the room, even though I was filled with the familiar artifacts all around the room. I felt like I could just sense something wrong with this room, something misplaced... I could almost feel Bella's presence in the room.

"Emma?" I heard an abrupt call, and I immediately jumped.

Nice laughter filled the room, and I saw Cleo enter through the room. "A bit jumpy, are we? I'll tell you a secret. I am too." She smiled warmly. I smiled back wanly.

A hard, sharp knock rang through the house, and Cleo rushed to get it. I sucked in a sharp breath, and braced myself. This was going to be hard.

Cleo reentered, but this time not alone. Tagging along behind her were two policemen, each dressed up in a uniform, their badge in full view as if bragging.

Don and Kim arrived down then, and ushered them to sit on the couch not occupied by me. Feeling ashamed for taking up so much room, I moved my feet and sat upright, only to make myself feel worse, but I sucked it up so Rikki and Cleo could sit there.

"So, explain to us what happened last night," the first officer said, pulling out his notepad.

"Well," began Cleo, slowly. "We were having a sleepover. Rikki, Emma, Bella and I," she said, motioning to us. I rubbed down harder on my head, only to make it ache more. I loosened up on the rubbing and just let it sit there, occasionally taking it off when my skin felt like it was frostbit.

"So, Bella and Emma got into a fight," Cleo said, glancing my way, asking permission to use my name and explain the fight. I nodded miserably, knowing it was the only way to get Bella back. "They fought until Bella rushed to the back door and yelled at us, just before storming out of the house."

"Was the fight between Emma and Bella physical in any way, or just verbal?" the one policeman asked, motioning my way. I clenched my teeth, fighting back the urge to yell and say that I would never hurt anyone intentionally, but that would only prove to them that I was capable of such things like fighting constantly, which was totally not me.

"Just verbal," assured Cleo. "Emma is a calm person. She wouldn't harm anyone."

"Continue," said the second policeman.

"So when she stormed out, Emma blamed herself and went to go find her. When she came back to the house about fifteen minutes later, she hadn't found Bella, and told us she fell down multiple times, and later we found out she had a concussion. So we all went out to find Bella, and we couldn't find her after a long period of time. We had to take Emma back to the house because she wasn't feeling good, and then we went to sleep. That's about it," Cleo said, shrugging. "Is there anything you can do?"

"We're not sure. We'll ask some questions to each of you guys, then we'll take a look around outside." The stern policeman tucked his notepad back in his pocket. "We can ask questions in the other room for more privacy. Who wants to go first?"

"I will," I volunteered. "It's only fair. I got us in this mess, so I should be the first one to be questioned."

The first policeman nodded and motioned in the direction of the dining room. I got up slowly, not wanting to jolt and hurt myself anymore. I anxiously was led into the dining room, where Policeman Number Two shut the door, as if shutting me in and he was going to hurt me. But that was silly. He'd only hurt me with his words.

"When was the last time you saw Bella?" said Policeman Number One.

I took a deep breath. I'd seen the movies before, and read books, so I knew that the policeman was going to ask me multiple times about the same thing, or about something they already knew, just to squeeze excess info out of someone. "I last saw Bella when she stormed out of the house using the back door."

"And I recall that you first left by yourself to look for Bella because you blamed yourself for these happenings. Did you by chance run into her while looking for her, and she just wouldn't come home?" The policeman smoothed his uniform, mentally telling me not to lie, and that he was a policeman and he could see through any lie.

"To tell you the truth," I said, emphasizing and stretching the word 'truth,' "I can't remember much. When I fell, it was like some memory was shaken out too. So, I probably might as well have met Bella, but I'm seriously so confused right now that I have no idea."

"Alright," said Policeman Number One, jotting down notes. "Did Hartley say anything before she stormed out?"

I bit my lip, not wanting my big fat mouth to spill out any of those hurtful words she had snarled to us. But I knew this would help find her. I ended up having a lone tear slid down my cheek, and I tried to bite back any others from escaping down my eyes. I choked on my words as I said, "She told me she...hated me. Then she called us bitches and told us our friendship wouldn't last." I held my head in my hands and sobbed hard.

"I think that's all we need," Policeman Number Two said softly, and I smiled at him kindly. I knew they probably had more questions for me than that, considering I was the one to be in the whole ruckus with Bella, and went to find her first.

I got up out of my chair and together the three of us left the dining room. We found the others murmuring quietly to each other, not wanting to disrupt our session. Upon seeing us, their heads snapped up and they stopped talking.

"I'll go next," Rikki said, not waiting for the two officers to ask. She pranced in that bold way of hers to the dining room, and I couldn't help but smile. I saw Policeman Number Two shrug to Number One, so they just followed Rikki into the room and shut the door with a loud bang.

**_-Rikki POV-_**

I crossed my legs, and picked off a piece of lint that clung to my pants. The two police officers sat in front of me in two wooden chairs that used to surround the dining table.

"So," the first (fat) officer said, pulling out a blue notepad and a black ink pen that was tucked away in his shirt pocket. "How long have you known Bella?"

"Around a year. Why?" I asked curiously. What did this have to do with anything?

Ignoring my question fully, which really irked me, he continued, "The night she disappeared...yesterday night...did she only fight with Bella? Or you and...uh..._Caroline_, too?"

"Her name is _Cleo_," I said abruptly. I was beginning to like the other officer better. "And no, she didn't. Only Emma. But that was only because Emma had just moved back home, and she felt that she was being replaced, I guess. They both usually don't get into fights."

"Was something going on back home or anywhere that might have made her in the fighting mood?" asked the second officer.

I gladly accepted the question from the other officer. "No...well, actually now that I think about it, yes. She got in a fight with her boyfriend just before coming here."

"So she got into two fights in one day, and she is usually calm?" the first officer said, squinting as if trying to see inside of me and see if I was lying.

"Well...yeah," I said, and I realized I must have sounded stupid. But Rikki Chadwick was not stupid, nor would she let a mean officer intimidate her.

"She seems like the type to keep secrets from you. How well did you really know her?" I hated that smug smile on his face, as if he was talking to someone so below his level, and wouldn't understand crap. I also hated how he looked and acted like he knew Bella better than I did, which was so untrue that I wanted to punch him straight in the gut.

"_What_ are you getting at? That she lied a lot? Because trust me, she didn't. And if you're implying that her running away was due to some random fact that she had two fights with people in one day, which must have been her only fights in probably a _year_, then you're a nut." I liked that. I gave him a piece of my mind. And, ha! I called an officer a nut!

"All I'm saying is that Bella liked to cause a ruckus. She liked to be in the spotlight. And she liked to play these games." The officer seemed to not care of what I thought of him. The second officer put a hand on the first one's shoulder, signaling to him that I was only a teenager and he shouldn't be arguing with me.

I just slowly shook my head, frozen in the spot. Upset, and about to hit him in the face, I rose out of my chair and rushed out of those double doors that separated us and everyone else. "We're done here," I said, slamming the doors shut and running to the couch. When Cleo looked at me quizzically, I just muttered to her that it was her turn, and then said, "Good luck. The first policeman is an idiot."

**_-Cleo POV-_**

I gave Rikki a queer look, but didn't let her words fall into silence. I decided to take her wisdom and listen more to the second policeman.

I got up on wobbly legs and made my way to the two big heavy doors. I pushed them open and it revealed the two policemen sitting on two chairs, just in front of a smaller chair.

I carefully made my way to the unoccupied chair and sat down. The policemen were busy jotting something rapidly down in their notebook, and I didn't even think they'd noticed I'd entered. I cleared my throat loudly to get their attentions. They jumped and looked up at me, where I smiled and said, "Uh, hi, I'm Cleo Sertori, Bella's friend." I had choked on the name, "Bella," and the word friend had just gone downhill.

"Ah, yes," said one policeman. He was squat and fat, his bald head shining. His nametag read, _A. Milton._ "We have a few questions for you."

"I figured," I said, a hint of razor edge to my voice. I remembered Rikki's warning of the first policeman being an idiot, so I figured he was the first one.

"Nice," he scoffed. "I just hope you aren't like that last girl." He looked at me with cold colorless eyes that made me wonder what he cared more about: solving the Bella mystery or getting his next paycheck.

"So what's the first question?" I asked to the second policeman. If Officer Milton would give me no respect, I wouldn't either.

He laughed kindly and I curiously read _his_ nametag: _C. Beakerman._ He said, "Did you find anything unusual during your quest to find Bella?"

I had to stop and pause for a second to regain my memory of the previous night and mentally rack my brain for any clue. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting I'd be sitting in this chair today, in front of two policemen. So during my search, I hadn't really kept my eye out for anything. I basically just looked for Bella. "Not particularly, if you don't count trees and grass muted by the darkness unusual."

He jotted something down, while Officer Milton just rolled his eyes at my stupid joke. I narrowed my eyes at him, not really caring at the moment that he was an officer and that he could send me to jail.

"How far out did you three look?" Officer Beakerman said. I was glad he got me away from thinking about Officer Milton; if I thought any longer, Milton would be pretty injured right about now.

I bit my lip, forcing myself to concentrate on the question. Once again, I thought about how far we had searched before coming back. "Pretty far, I would have to say. We would've been searching pretty much all night and further out if we hadn't had to come back."

"Why did you come back?" Milton questioned, sizing up to me as if I was lying and that we had seen Bella.

"We came back for Emma. Her concussion was getting worse so we brought her back for some rest, which, now that I think about it, was a bad idea. Emma shouldn't have slept with a concussion." I sighed, now feeling foolish. I could almost feel my ears heating up in embarrassment. All I really wanted to do was go back into my living room. "Are the questions over yet?" I asked.

"Almost. One left." Beakerman looked at me with sorrow, sorry that I wanted to go but couldn't. I smiled back in reassurance that I was ready. "Rikki mentioned to us earlier that Bella had a fight with her boyfriend. Did she tell _you_ what it was about?" He emphasized the word "you," clearly showing that Bella hadn't told Rikki.

I smiled, grateful that Officer Beakerman had remembered Rikki's name, unlike Milton who had simply put it, "the last girl." I then said, "No. She told Rikki and I at the same time that it was just over something silly. She never told us straight out what the fight was about, but at the time I didn't think it mattered."

"Alright, you may go now," Beakerman said, flipping his notepad shut. I nodded gratefully and stood up, spinning around to open the doors to freedom.

"How'd it go?" asked Rikki as I sat down by her. Emma settled by me, snapping her cell phone that was flipped open shut.

"Pretty good," I said teetering on my answer. "And you were right. The first policeman _is_ an idiot."

Rikki smiled playfully, and I turned to Emma. "Hey, Ems, who were you calling?" I said, commenting on when she'd snapped the phone shut.

**_-Emma POV-_**

"Calling my parents," I said. "I don't feel too well." I rubbed my head with the palm of my hand, but ended up just putting the ice pack back on my head.

"I don't blame you," Cleo said sympathetically. "You took a lot of great falls yesterday. Are you going to the doctor or something?"

"I don't know. My mom just wants to come over and check it out before doing anything," I said slowly. "I don't really think I need it."

"You kidding me?" Rikki exclaimed. "Yesterday you could barley walk let alone talk!"

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "That _really_ helped." We all ended up laughing.

Fifteen minutes later, two things happened. First, the two policemen came out and announced that they needed to do an investigation outside to find any clues that would help them find Bella, or Bella herself that had just fallen asleep under a tree or something. Second, my mom came and once she looked at me, crumpled and hurt as if the sleepover had changed me; she said that I had to go to the hospital for my head.

"Can't I just stay an extra hour or so? I really need to know what happens during the investigation for Bella." I had already explained to my mom about the whole Bella thing, leaving out various snippets of information about our fight. Right now, I was feeling that I shouldn't have called my mom and maybe should have waited.

"Don't be silly Emma, I'm sure Rikki or Cleo could call and tell you what happened. I'm sure the news will be positive." She turned and smiled to Rikki and Cleo, who smiled back their weary smiles.

"You should go, Emma," Rikki said. "Like your mom said, we can call you." She smiled.

I sighed and said, "I don't know. I just feel that this thing is my fault and that I should stick around for any kind of results."

"We'll call you," said Cleo, pushing her voice a little more. "Don't worry Emma, we have this all handled. So go, okay? For us?" She looked at my mother for some support, and my mom beamed and nodded in agreement.

"Alright," I said, letting out a long breath. "But call right when we get results of any kind, okay? Please?" I looked at both Rikki and Cleo and they smiled, satisfied.

"Let's go," my mom said, helping me up from the couch. The policemen were just about to begin their search; they tightened their laces repeatedly while explaining to Don where they would search according to where Bella had gone and where we had searched.

My mom and I both started for the door, and when it opened I let the fresh morning sunshine warm my cheeks and embrace me with its rays. It hurt my eyes, so I closed my eyes; soaking up the energy the sun was giving me, and feeling the immense power on me. I opened up my eyes to see we had arrived at the car, which was parked straightly in the Sertori's driveway. My dad was sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for our arrival. I climbed into the backseat since my parents were up front to reveal Elliott sitting in the back also.

"Why did we have to pick up Emma? Couldn't she have walked?" asked the always-curious Elliott. I rolled my eyes, even though I knew that Elliott was trying to mean it in the most sincere and thoughtful way.

"She didn't feel well enough to walk home," my mom explained simply as the car rolled down the driveway and took a sharp turn to the left. The sun flashed into my eyes, making me wince with unusual pain.

"Where are we going? Our house is the other way," Elliott said, as if my parents didn't already know.

"We're going to the hospital," said my mom. She reached over and grabbed a pair of sunglasses, twiddling with them before placing them delicately over her eyes. I reached over and grabbed an identical pair—the sun was really hurting my eyes. I slid them over my eyes as quickly as possible.

"Why?" Elliott looked over to me in surprise. I guess he hadn't realized the ice I was holding to my head. Once he did, he said in shock, "What happened?"

"It's...a long story Elliott. I'll tell it to you later." I used to be able to pull the old "you are too young to understand," routine over him, but now that he was thirteen, I really didn't think it would work anymore. My last resort was to tell him but leave out unnecessary details—like the ones that would make him hate me for doing that to Bella. "Like I said...it's a long story."

"Alright," said Elliott, resting back into the firm plush of his seat. "Will we be back soon? I promised my friends I would meet up with them later. They want to see me after I've been gone for a year."

"It depends, Elliott," dad said. "It depends on how backed up the hospital is." He turned the steering wheel, jolting the car to make a right. I shook off the throbbing in my skull, and readjusted my sunglasses to fit perfectly on my nose. I sunk back into the car and listened to the soft music pouring out of the radio and Elliott yapping on the phone to his friend the whole way there.

When I saw the huge, looming white building towering to the sky just ahead of us, I straightened up. The last time I had been to the hospital was when I had broken my wrist many years ago. I took in how much it had changed since last year. It looked like they built another section to it, making it look a little bigger. I remembered when I broke my wrist how the hospital looked intimidating to me, but I think that was just because I had feared I would have to give up swimming for a while; I later found out that to be untrue, considering I swam with my cast on!

We parked in an empty spot and piled out of the car. I tried not to look directly at the sun, even though I had on my sunglasses. Elliott did not yield at talking on the phone to his friend until we got to the section of the hospital we wished to enter and his friend had to go. So he silently hung up the phone and followed us into the creaky elevator.

We all piled in and I held my breath; I really hated elevators. I had fears that it would stop in between floors, or break down and come speeding down and crash at the basement level. I gripped the cold metal bar that lined the elevator wall while my mom punched in the floor number we needed to go to by reading a map that was posted on the elevator wall. She then insisted that I take off my sunglasses, so I did, and handed them to her.

Once we reached our destination, the elevator doors took their time waiting to open up. Once they finally creaked open, I jumped out of the elevator, terrified that it would never work again.

"Room 390," my mom said, reading now another map of the floor we were in. "Go straight down this hallway and make a right, then we should be able to locate it just fine."

To me, she sounded as if she knew this hospital like she'd built it. In reality, I knew she hadn't been here for a while, considering we were gone for a year and even before that we hadn't come here often. But without complaining, I was led down the hall and into Room 390.

"Here we go," dad said, pushing open the door. I smelled various smells of a hospital, some good and some bad. We found ourselves in a medium white waiting area, with a collection of old oak desks cluttered with out dated magazines and newspapers on its tabletop. A few people waited there, each looking a little sickly. I easily shied away from them and to the receptionists' desk, where my parents were in a heated conversation with the old lady who had thick glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She didn't even bother to make eye contact with my parents as they talked—she was just too busy typing on the computer.

"One hour you say?" my dad said, drumming his fingers impatiently on the desk. "Are you sure?"

"Look, sir," she said in a shaky but professional and steady voice, "We have many other patients waiting. You will just have to wait." She rolled her eyes at the computer monitor, probably thinking that he was stupid.

"Alright," my dad said, rubbing his temples. "We'll wait. Come on guys," he said, and we all turned away, except for me.

When I started back, I glanced over my shoulder to view the lady. She was silently shaking her head in mockery. I guessed she hated her job. I just smiled when I spied the glass of water on her desk, and stuck my hand out. One thing that hadn't gotten rusty during the trip was my powers. I used them on multiple occasions, never tiring of them. When I saw the receptionist's glass of water freeze over, I just smiled that same mocking smile she wore.

"Emma? What are you doing? Come on," Elliott urged. I quickly snapped my head back in the right position to see Elliott looking at me, gesturing to where my parents sat, reading magazines. I just smiled my innocent smile and walked to the chairs with him.

Multiple times Elliott had come to finding out my secret; multiple. There were times when it was just the two of us at the hotel pool because it was just the crack of dawn (Elliott loved to go to the pool early in the morning because no one was there.) I would then accidentally fall into the pool, and I had to get Elliott away from me. Successfully, it worked. There was one time where we where we were at a hotel in Germany, and our tour group was going to explore the Neuschwanstein Castle. Unluckily (for me), it began to rain, and of course I couldn't have gone out into the rain. Elliott was trying to persuade me to go, while I was trying to tell him that I didn't feel like going. He eventually tugged me out into the rain, where I ended up running and landed in the janitor's closet with a tail. After that, I swore to myself that one day, I _would_ tell Elliott. It just wouldn't be then. No, not then. But someday.

I plopped myself on their hard couch, and grabbed a magazine that had to be at _least_ a year old. I opened it to a random page (I think it was tips on make-up) and silently read.

OoOoO

"Emma Gilbert?" I heard a sharp but gentle voice say. I looked up to see a nurse poking her head out of a wooden side door, looking at me.

I stretched my stiff legs and got up, wobbling a little because of how long I was sitting. And how long _was_ that? A half an hour? Two hours? I checked my cell phone—disappointingly, no calls, as if I couldn't be able to hear the ring in the quiet office—and saw that it had been forty-five minutes. I stuck it back in my pocket and went over to the nurse.

The next half an hour—I think, I wasn't really keeping the time, more like daydreaming—passed by in a blur. I just kept thinking about what was happening at Cleo's house, and how Bella's investigation was going. The only thing I was really listening to in the real world was the doctor's instructions. That, and the fact when they surprised me by shining a light in my eyes, in which I winced away from. They ran a CT scan, and gave me a pill, which made the throbbing in my head go down.

When we were done, we both walked out of his office and to the waiting room where my brother and parents were waiting. "Finally!" shouted Elliott, and I just narrowed my eyes at him and playfully shoved him.

"No serious effects or damage, but she had a pretty bad concussion. I suggest that she doesn't go to sleep until three in the morning, just in case. And after that, have someone wake her up at least once in the night to ask her what her name is and the date. If she has any more serious side effects, like vomiting or her headaches increase, come back here."

"Alright," said my dad, who was nodding the whole way. I just sighed outwardly. I wasn't allowed to go to sleep until three AM? How was I supposed to keep myself from falling asleep from exhaustion right now? But I didn't protest as we all filed out into the hall.

Once outside, and the sunlight hit our faces in such a melodious way that I took a deep breath in, almost smelling the purity of it all. Of course, then I remembered that Bella was missing, and that all stopped cold.

I took the sunglasses from mom and instantly slipped them on, as if now the once pure sun had turned evil. I rubbed my hands together just as my phone went off, singing its ring tone.

"You guys go ahead!" I shouted to the rest of my family. "I'll catch up with you in a second!" I watched for a few seconds as they walked towards the car, and I remembered that my phone was going off loudly. I shuffled my feet across the concrete hospital sidewalk, and flipped open the cell phone rapidly, chewing my lip nervously as I said, "What did they find?"

I watched as my parents waved at me to hurry up as I heard those timid words escaping from Cleo's lips, "Emma, they didn't find her."

**A/N: Next chapter will be the current scene; a year after Bella vanishes. I hope you enjoyed, and please review. Ciao!**


	3. Chapter 3 the first messages

Funny when you're dead how people start listening

_-_The Band Perry, _If I Die Young_

**Chapter One: The First Messages**

**_-Third POV-_**

After that night, the terrifying night where Bella Hartley disappeared, the girls saw less and less of each other. The calls became less frequent, as if the whole Bella thing had gotten the girls paranoid of each other. They began to spend full moons at their own houses, separated. It got so bad that whenever one of them would swim to the moon pool and encounter another girl there, they would quickly—and embarrassedly—leave. During the classes they had together, they didn't make eye contact and only talked if they were partnered up, which was not really something the teachers did. They usually just let them choose their own partners. In the hallways, if one passed another, they wouldn't say hi or hello or even smile. It was like they were never friends. After that night, that terrifying night, they stopped being friends. But all that was changed a year later, the day the girls got a message from B.

**_-Emma POV-_**

I thought that weird panging feeling in my chest whenever I got a bad grade would be over once I got a few. I was dead wrong. It only grew worse.

_Slap!_ Mr. Russell slapped down my test like he was mad. I looked up to see his expression: disappointment. Somehow, I wanted to use ESP to tell him that deep down, I was disappointed too. But I had built up a thick brick wall between me and that feeling, and it was going to take a lot more than the huge wrecking ball of the bad grade to tear down my hard work.

"See me after class," he said sternly, and I couldn't help but want to smash my head on my book, or better, my wood desk. I knew better than to get worked up over another bad grade, but that huge red F staring up at me was mocking me, saying, "You knew question thirteen was choice B. You're so stupid, trying to act cool by getting the wrong answers." I just wanted to yell back that grade, and say, "I wasn't _trying_! I wasn't trying at all! I didn't study or try, so that's why I failed! I'm sorry!" Of course, if I yelled at a sheet of paper, people would think I'm crazy. If I wasn't already crazy, that is.

The bell then rung, high and shrill, but I made no move to escape the class early. I watched as everyone shuffled out, and slowly packed away the cursed paper, not looking forward to seeing Mr. Russell after class. I took my time in gathering up my materials, and slowly but steadily made my way to the front of the desk.

"Emma," Mr. Russell said slowly, breathing out in the same rhythm. "What happened? You used to be an A+ student, now you're barely skimming the surface with the grades you muster now."

What happened? That was his question? What happened was that I stopped caring. What were grades anyway? As long as I made it to the next year of school, I was fine. Now it was senior year, and my grades really had been dropping, because I simply _did not care_. It all didn't matter to me anymore. Basically, the only things that I really did care about now were my midnight swims as a mermaid and Ash.

"Um," I said, slowly breathing out. "I don't know." I shifted uncomfortably to the other foot, wanting to get out of there as quick as I could. I decided to play dumb and act as if I had no clue was he was talking about, or just tell him I didn't know for every question.

"Emma, I hate to break this to you, but if this keeps up, I'm going to have to assign you a tutor." There was no trace of sympathy in his voice.

A tutor? That really hit me like a huge, cold wave just splashing unexpectedly on your face. Not that anything was wrong with having a tutor, but that was just a huge shock for my ears to hear. I used to be the tutor, not the person being tutored. I realized then and there that I probably had to get better grades to avoid the whole tutoring situation. The only reputation with tutors was when Cleo had told Rikki and I about how Charlotte had loaded Cleo with homework when she was her tutor just so Charlotte could be alone with Cleo's ex, Lewis. But the shoe was on the other foot when she lost her mermaid powers and Lewis.

"Mr. Russell, don't worry. I'll try to get better grades, okay? I really will. Please don't get me a tutor just yet. You just watch." I gave him a dazzling smile, and edged my way to the door, hinting that I wanted to go.

"Alright, but Emma, if you get one more bad grade, I will assign you a tutor." He crossed his arms, and leaned back into the plush of the chair like he was satisfied with himself.

"Don't worry Mr. Russell, I've got it all under control. You won't be disappointed," I insisted, and slowly backed up out of the room. He sent me a, "You _better_ have this under control," look, and I escaped.

I quickly collected myself as I exited, only to have a voice behind me say, "What did he want?"

I spun around to see none other than Jenna White, my best friend standing there, clutching her books. I smiled and we started to walk together down the hall.

Jenna White was gorgeous. She had coco brown skin, which was beautiful and radiant. Her intense green eyes seemed to drink in whatever you said, and told you by just looking into them, "Tell me more. I loved to play with you like a puppet." Jenna had long wavy brown hair, which was now pulled back in a ponytail to my dismay. She had talked about getting her hair cut much shorter, but I was always the one to insist that it was great long.

Besides her looks, Jenna was a great person. She was everything you needed in a best friend. She listened to your problems and helped you as much as she could, no matter what would happen to her. She always stuck by my side, through all my mistakes, and I was surprised she had learned to live with all my flaws.

"The usual. He lectured me that if I didn't get my grades back up, he would get me a tutor. He even dared to bring up my past good grades and stellar behavior, and compare it to now. It was all the tests fault, though." I sighed, glad I got it all off my chest.

Jenna was new here, coming to our school at the beginning of senior year, which was not even a month ago. Once I saw her excellent character and fashion sense, I knew she would be a perfect friend now that I didn't hang out with Cleo or Rikki anymore. I tried to keep my past a secret from her (my good grades and goody two-shoes record), but she was good at figuring out secrets. I should be thankful that she hasn't figured out my biggest one yet.

"What test? That easy one in language arts?" Jenna said. She was a straight A student, so I expected her to call it easy. To me, it was pretty difficult.

I buried my pathetic face in my hands. "Great! I failed the _easy_ quiz! What will I get on a hard one?" I handed her the stupid paper that was folded up, and said, "You keep it. I don't want it. It mocks me."

She rolled her eyes. "Drama queen much? Come on Em, it can't be _that bad_." She unfolded the paper and her eyes widened as it skimmed the page, soaking in all the red Xs encircling just about every question number. I could almost see her shock and disappointment showing, and I was crushed.

"Emma," she said slowly, folding up the paper. "You misspelled easy words on here. How'd you do that?"

"I don't know!" I said. "I guess I just stopped trying. School didn't mean anything to me, so I just stopped trying."

"Oh," said Jenna, looking down, not saying a word. I looked at her peculiarly, waiting for her to say something. But she didn't say a word.

I spotted my locker out of the corner of my eye, and said a quick good-bye to Jenna. We parted, and I arrived at my locker, which had paint peeling off of it. I twisted the dial to the correct locker numbers, and pulled down on it. I was granted access to my locker, and I began shoving my books into it.

I grabbed a pack of fruit flavored gum off the shelf, and stuck a piece in my mouth, chewing rapidly to get rid of the sugar so I would be able to blow a bubble. I also grabbed my phone that was nestled in the corner with my colorful scarf. I began flipping through the missed calls and texts, reading each one carefully.

Just then, my phone began to play its ring tone that it plays when I get a text, and to shut it up, I opened the message, and read what was neatly printed on the small glowing screen,

_What happened to goody two shoe's Emma? Did her grades drop dead just when I did?_

_-B_

"What the—" I said, staring at the words. I opened my mouth again, and then snapped it shut. No other words spilled out.

What was this message? Who was it from? I quickly went to a list of my text messages, and it said it was from an unknown number. I selected it, and read it again, over and over. But my eyes just locked on the signature: B. Who was B? Bob? Becky? _Bella?_

No. I snapped my phone shut, shutting out those words. No, it was probably just a prank. Nothing to get worked up over. It was over, and it would never happen again. I'd just delete the message.

But as I was scrolling through my texts again, the bell rang. I groaned, and closed my phone. Deleting the message would have to wait. Right now I had to get to my class.

**_-Cleo POV-_**

"Cleo Sertori to the principal's office, _now_." Wow, that voice did not sound friendly. There was no doubt that I was in trouble. _Big time._

My teacher nodded towards me, and I gathered up my books and slung my backpack over one shoulder. All my classmates stared hard at me, like asking what I did wrong. I just tried hard not to look at them as I made my way out the door.

As I walked down the hallway, I noticed how empty it was without the hustle and bustle of students trying to get to their classes in record time. I could hear the click of my shoes as I walked down the hallway, matched up with the muted voices of the classes that were in session.

Along the way, I couldn't help but wonder why they needed me at the office. Did I do something wrong? Well, let's see. My grades were decent, and anyway I didn't think having bad grades would make them call you down to the office. I hadn't vandalized anything (I never would) and I was pretty much out of the spotlight in school. So what could be the matter?

I hastily moved into the principal's office, feeling unsettled. The only times I had been in here were whenever I had to drop off papers or something, but never if I was in trouble. Well, there was no way to tell if I was in trouble or not, but according to the stern voice on the speaker I was pretty sure I knew.

I took a seat in front of the head desk, and waited for the principal to come out. Instead, the gym coach did.

"Mrs. O'Neill? What are you doing here?" I asked. I thought I was going to the principal, not the coach.

"Cleo, I'll just get straight to the point. You haven't gotten full gym credit because you skipped the swimming course this year. Why?" She crossed her arms and sat down on the principal's usual chair.

So _that_ was what this is about. Well, it was time to come up with a lie as to why I couldn't swim. "I...uh...am...allergic to chlorine?" It came out more like a question. The excuse had been used by Rikki before, so I really hoped she'd believe it. I held my breath as she looked me over, as if seeing if I was lying.

"Like your old friend Rikki, eh?" she said. I wasn't surprised that she said "old friend." Emma, Rikki and I all used to hang out so very often that it was unnatural for us to not hang out together anymore. Pretty much everyone knew we weren't friends anymore, and it was a weird feeling. Almost like if you are being stalked.

"Yeah," I said. "That was kind of the reason we were friends. Similar personalities, you know?" I gripped the chair tight, hoping the coach wouldn't see my distress and lies.

"Okay. Cleo, you're a good student, so I believe you. You'll probably have to make up the credit, but that won't be so hard, will it? You'll probably have the company of others who can't swim in gym, like Rikki." Oh, joy. Rikki. It wasn't like I hated her; it was just that it would be a little uncomfortable around her doing whatever extra credit the Mrs. O'Neill had up her sleeve. And no doubt that Emma would be joining us; it wasn't like she could cry, "Cannonball!" and jump into the pool with the rest of the _normal_ students. Well, we weren't normal. And it kind of sucked that we weren't friends anymore.

"Sure," I said timidly. "Can I go now?" Seeing the look on her face, I quickly put in, "Not to be rude or anything. I just...think the bells going to ring soon. And I don't want to be late, you know." I smiled a good girl smile in hopes that she would free me.

"Alright Cleo, nothing holding you back now. Go ahead," she nodded towards the door, and picked up a thick stack of papers, and looked at them like she needed to sort them or something. I knew better. What kind of gym teacher does paperwork?

"'Kay," I said, shuffling my feet towards the door. "Bye." I slung my backpack over one shoulder and hustled out the door. I made sure to never look back as I left. I wouldn't want a memory anyway.

I made my way through the empty hall, thoughts of me just hanging around by my locker until the bell rang wandering around in my head. No one needed to know. I would just pretend our meeting took up the time between then and when the bell rang. Maybe I could be late for class, and say I was in the office. Oh yes...

But just then, the bell rang. I groaned, tilting my chin up towards the ceiling, silently saying, "One minute. You couldn't have given me one minute in the hall by myself?"

I headed for my original destination: my locker. I opened it and started cramming my books in the locker. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something on the top shelf.

"What's this?" I said quietly to myself, and grabbed the folded piece of notebook paper lying innocently on my shelf. I unfolded it, getting a little excited. I hoped it would be from Lewis. I loved his little random text messages or notes passed to me in class telling me how much he loved me.

The paper revealed a typed message in the center. _Strange,_ I thought. _Wouldn't a typed message usually be on blank computer paper?_ I ran my finger on the ripped edge of the paper as I read,

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue._

_Cleo is a big fat liar,_

_I know she agrees too._

_-B_

I just stared, open mouthed, at the anonymous note. Wait, could I really call it anonymous? It was signed, after all. I squinted at the simple, yet confusing, signature: B. Who the heck was B? I just sighed, and folded up the paper. I was getting a little freaked out right now. Who could be B, and why did she pick me to send a note to?

**_-Rikki POV-_**

"I hate this," I heard a low hiss in my ear. I smiled, knowing exactly who it was. I turned to see Zane, walking away from me and towards a stage helper, giving me a glare.

"You lost the bet!" I whisper-yelled back to him. "And I told you if you lost, you had to try out for the play with me." I really hadn't known Zane would hate the whole acting in a play thing. I guess it just wasn't his thing. But I did know something: acting was _my_ thing. I loved to shed my other self and just become someone else, hold their worry or happiness, feel their pain or love. I just wanted to share that with Zane, but I guess he just couldn't grasp it the way I could.

I smoothed out the font of my costume. It was itchy and clung to me in all the wrong ways, but I really didn't mind. We were doing a play that was set in medieval times, and I got the lead as a princess. It _really_ didn't fit my real wild, rebellious attitude, but that was what acting was about, right? Becoming someone new. So I was becoming a whole new person with a completely different manner, like trying on a different set of clothes. People wanted to change all the time, but had no idea where to start. Why not start with a play? You could try it on for size to see if you liked it.

I was way too busy in my thoughts to really register what was going on in the world around me. I was just standing in the middle of the stage, waiting for the director to tell us what scene we'd be practicing next, when all of a sudden I heard a cry of, "Oh my God, look out!"

I turned around, startled, to see the huge and heavy prop of the castle behind me looming over me. What was so bad about that? But then I saw as it seemed to get closer to me, bending down to look me square in the eye. It was falling on top of me!

I just stood in shock. My cloudy mind commanded my frozen feet to move, but they wouldn't obey. Instead, they stood, locked in place. The castle looked heavy, and I knew that if it crashed on top of me it would probably hurt badly. Even with those thoughts in my head, I just couldn't move.

I felt a powerful blow on my right side, pushing me out of the way. I lost my balance and fell down out of the way, skidding over to the left side. I kept sliding on the polished floor, and when I finally stopped, I looked up to see what happened.

The castle prop was lying down on the floor, its unpainted side sticking up. The stage helpers were rushing to put it back up like it was a huge deal, when all they needed was a few people to lift the fat thing up. I registered enough to realize that there was another person lying by me.

"Zane?" I said astonished, as he stood up, brushing off his medieval clothes as if his heroic deed was nothing. He gave me a hand, which I took gratefully. I stood up and tried to smooth out my dress.

"Thanks," I said, really meaning it. "That thing could have crushed me."

"Do I get a prize for saving you? Like quitting the play?" he said hopefully, smiling at me in a goofy and jokingly matter.

"Don't push your luck," I warned. I turned to the director and said, "Can we take five? My side hurts from where Zane crashed into me."

He nodded. "Sorry about that, Rikki, I'll make sure next time to make it more secure." He flipped through a few pages with scrawled black ink writing on them on his clipboard and wrote himself a little note.

"It was an accident," I assured him. I turned back to Zane. "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back, okay?" He nodded, and I stood on my tiptoes, and began to kiss him passionately.

"PDA! PDA!" someone shouted from back stage, and I abruptly ended the kiss and turned to the owner of the voice.

"Shut up Nate," I muttered, embarrassed. Nate had never given up on his annoying attitude, and it really peeved me that he was working the sound effects. See, he recently got detention for fighting with some guy who was in a relationship with this girl he liked. He either had the choice of being suspended or working the play. Guess which one he chose?

I walked off the stage, constantly adjusting my outfit to fit me. Once I arrived at the bathroom, I just gave up on it, realizing that it was just useless.

I shut myself up in a stall and lifted up the bottom of the all too girly dress to reveal my comfy jeans. I dug my hand in my one pocket, and produced my cell phone, where I scrolled through my text messages. Most of them were from Zane, but some were from my friends around the school. But the most recent one came from an anonymous person, and my phone refused to show me the number. I opened it up, and found a message neatly printed on the glowing screen,

_Zane saved the castle prop from killing you. Who's going to stop me?_

_-B_

I just gaped at the screen for the longest time, not moving. The screen eventually went black and went into sleep mode. When I finally got a grip, I shut the phone and shivered, and I was suddenly covered with the feeling of being watched.

Was the message supposed to be a death threat or something? But who would want to kill me? Had I made any enemies lately? Not that I recalled of. So who would want me to die?

I sighed outwardly, and straightened my dress. As I walked out and looked at myself in the glossy mirror, I gasped. "Of course!" I said, and my reflection said the same thing. I was filled with anger and rage at the person who sent me that hate message, but I would deal with them later. Right now I had a play to rehearse.

OoOoO

"Hello?"

"So not funny," I said in the coldest, meanest and most hateful voice I could muster.

"Huh? Who is this?" the voice said, confused for a moment. I heard shuffling on the one end, probably her getting up off of a couch or bed.

"What, you deleted me off your contact list?" I said coldly. "I actually don't blame you. I deleted yours too. But sending me death threats? That was the lowest of the low." I gripped my phone tight, so tight that I was afraid I might crush it.

"_Rikki_?" she said in an astonished tone. "What...after a year, why are you calling me?"

"Emma," I said, keeping my voice even, even though saying it sounded weird. The name tasted familiar, yet distant. I felt like I hadn't said it in a while, but in all honestly, it felt good to say it again. "I know you sent me that death threat."

"Death threat?" she said in a surprised tone. If I wasn't so convinced it was her I might had thought it might not had been her. "Rikki, even though we're not friends, I would never, _ever_, send you a death threat."

I was taken aback. Her voice sounded so sincere. How could it have been her? I suddenly felt stupid for thinking such a think, and embarrassed for calling after all this time. "I'm sorry," I mumbled apologetically. "I wasn't thinking rationally. I'll, uh...see you around, I guess. Bye."

I was about to hang up the phone when Emma stopped me. "Wait! Rikki, was your death threat signed by someone named B?"

"B?" I said stupidly. "Now that I think about it...yes. Yes it was. Why do you ask?"

"Because I got a message from B too," she said, excited. "Rikki, do you know anyone else who got a message?"

"Besides you? No one." I was pretty shocked. I didn't know B had made an unexpected message to the both of us. "Wait, Emma, you don't think _Cleo_ got one, do you?"

"Cleo?" she asked. "Oh my God, I think she did. Listen, meet me at my house in fifteen." I heard a pause, and I could practically _see_ the smile creep up on her face. "Did you forget how to get there?"

"Please. How could I forget when I sneak over ever Saturday to steal your snacks?" I said, smirking quietly to myself.

"Rikki! Tell me you're kidding," Emma said seriously. I cracked up laughing. It felt really good to laugh with Emma, like it used to be.

"No need to get all worked up. Okay, I'll be over soon," I promised. "See you then."

"But you never told me if you sneak over or not!" Emma pointed out. I smiled. Ah, Emma. Always the worrywart.

Without even answering (I didn't feel the need to), I hung up. I just stared at my phone, and processed what happened quickly through my head, and how my whole life had just changed through that one little phone call. I smiled down at the phone, and, as loud as I could, I screamed, "Yes! We're friends again!"

I instantly covered my mouth, not realizing how loud that sounded until it all came tumbling out of my mouth. I thanked my lucky stars that my dad wasn't home, and excitedly grabbed my jacket and rushed out the door, making it a world record.

**_-Cleo POV-_**

I felt my phone vibrate on my stomach. I giggled at the sensation, and picked it off. I closed the boring book I was reading. Lewis recommended it to me, but I had barely known a word in the book, and the ones I did were so dreary that I almost fell asleep.

I looked at the caller ID to see who was calling. I stared in shock at it for a second. It read, _Emma._

"Emma?" I said in the vast space of my bedroom. I didn't waste another second as I flipped it open and said in a shaky and questioning voice, "Uh, hello?"

Her laughter sounded like music to me. It was a song I had listened to forever, but then forgot all about it and the magical properties it had. But I had found it again, and I loved it even more. "Yeah, you sound surprised. I don't blame you. I sounded pretty surprised when Rikki called me today."

"What's going on?" I questioned, my voice hoarse. She didn't seem to be making any sense at all.

"I never even intended on calling you today," she continued. "But...Cleo, did you get a message signed by B?"

I froze, my jaw locking in place and every muscle in my body screaming that it didn't want to move. I could just stay in place on my bed, not caring that Emma was waiting for my answer. I was just in shock.

"Cleo?" she asked in a timid voice. She probably thought that I hadn't gotten a message and was feeling a bit embarrassed that she had asked. "Sorry to ask, I guess you didn't. I was just curious. Um...bye."

"How did you know?" I whispered, now gaining back my ability to move at least my mouth. I was still in shock. How would Emma, in all the people of the world, know I had gotten a message from B?

"Because Rikki and I got one too," she said slowly. Then she choked on her last words, "And Rikki's was a death threat." I stayed silent; soaking in the info she just gave me. "Rikki is coming over to my house. Come over too, okay? We can catch up and discuss this whole B thing."

"Sure," I said slowly. "I'll...I'll be right over." I hung up the phone and just sat in stunned silence. After a few minutes of that, I realized I'd better get moving. I got up out of my bed and walked downstairs.

"Hey, Cleo, want to join Kim and me in a board game?" my father said, piping up from the living room. I swiveled my head to catch a glimpse of my dad and sister on opposite ends of the coffee table with game pieces parts scattered all over the table.

"Dad, as much as I'd like to beat you in a board game, I can't. I'm going to Emma's house." When seeing his shocked expression, I quickly added, "Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, sure," he said rapidly. "It's just...you haven't hung out with Emma in such a long time. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," I said slowly. "We just decided to catch up. Nothing wrong with that."

"Well, I'm glad you two are friends now," he said gladly.

I plucked off my jacket of the row of hooks and jammed my arm in one sleeve. "Dad, this doesn't mean we're friends again," I said, not wanting to get his hopes up. I knew too well that after we parted our separate ways, we'd pretty much never see each other again.

"Bye dad," I said, and opened then door. The bright sunlight dazzled me for a second, but I continued to walk through it, smiling the whole way.

**_-Emma POV-_**

I nervously paced back and forth in front of the door. What if they decided to bail? It _had_ been a whole year. Maybe they decided just to meet up with each other and leave me behind in the dust. Maybe they thought _I_ had sent B's messages just to bring us closer together, and they decided not to come for that reason. Maybe...

_Come on, Emma, think rationally_, a voice in my head screamed at me in an alarming tone. _They're coming soon. Don't worry._ I smiled, knowing it was true. I was being silly.

Just then, the doorbell rang, chirping a high note. "I'll get it!" I yelled, just in case there was someone else in the house going to get it.

I wrenched open the door to find Cleo and Rikki standing on my doorstep. I nervously laughed. "You guys...walked together?" My nightmares were coming true. They had picked one another over me. What if they abandoned me what I least expected it? What if...

"Nah," Rikki said, interrupting my train of thoughts. "We arrived at the same time. Uh...can we come in?"

"Sure," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed for blocking the entrance and leaving them outside. I moved out of the way and the girls entered, looking around and taking in any changes made to my house.

We settled ourselves on my sofa in the living room, and no one said a word. We just sat there, wallowing in silence.

"So..." I said slowly, wanting to bring up some small talk. I suddenly forgot why I invited them here.

"What happened?" Cleo said, breaking the imaginary small talk and just bursting out. Rikki and I stared blankly at her.

Blushing, she said, "I mean, after Bella...disappeared. We just broke off, like Bella was holding us together, when Emma, you barely even knew her!"

"Yeah," I said quietly. I played with my hair, something I do when I'm nervous or anxious. "All I knew of her was that I hated her." I instantly regretted saying that, and tried to tell myself that this was Rikki and Cleo I was talking to, and they used to be friends with her. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"No, you were just speaking the truth," Rikki said. "Don't apologize. Right now, let's talk B. What were your guys messages?"

"Well," Cleo said, breathing out slowly. "I was called down to the principal's office and the gym teacher asked why I wasn't swimming like I was supposed to. I lied, and when I left, I found a note in my locker that said...well, why don't you guys read it?" She pulled out a folded up piece of notebook paper out of her pocket and handed it to me.

"Roses are red, violets are blue. Cleo is a big fat liar; I know she agrees too," I read, taking my time to absorb what was typed up on the paper. "Oh, Cleo," I said, and hugged my sad friend. "Rikki, why don't you tell us your story?"

"Um, I was rehearsing with Zane for the school play when the director yelled cut," Rikki said.

"Wait, you tried out for the school play? With _Zane_?" I said, astonished. I had never seen Rikki as the acting type.

"He lost a bet," she offered. "And yes, I did. After we sort of...stopped being friends, I found a love in acting. Okay, back to my story. The play was set in medieval times, and we had a huge and heavy castle prop. It was about to fall on me when Zane pushed me out of the way. After that, I took a five minute break and went to the bathroom where I checked my text messages, and this is what I found." She flipped through her texts, and found the message. This time, Cleo read it.

"Zane saved the castle prop from killing you. Who's going to stop me?" Cleo read. She gasped, and handed Rikki back her phone. "Wow, mine wasn't _that_ hurtful," she said. "Emma? What about your story?"

"Well, I got an F on a test in language arts," I started, and braced myself for the explosion.

"You got an F?" Cleo yelled, and I covered up her mouth with my hand.

"You want my parents to hear?" I asked. Thank goodness Rikki was just sitting there, mouth wide open.

"How could you get an F? I thought you were a straight A student," Cleo said.

"My grades dropped. What can I say?" I said matter-of-factly. "Let me continue. I got to my locker after a rant from the teacher, and found a text." I handed it off to Rikki, who hadn't gotten a chance to read it yet.

"What happened to goody two shoe's Emma? Did her grades drop dead just when I did?" Rikki read. Confused, she said, "But Bella isn't dead...is she?"

"She's missing, so I don't know," I said. "But these are all signed B, so do you guys really think they're from Bella?"

"Maybe she's back, and she's hinting to it by the texts. Maybe they're over, and she's not sending anymore," Cleo said hopefully.

"If she's hinting, she's not hinting very nicely," I said, my mind flashing back to Rikki's message. As if reading my mind, Rikki nodded.

"This is just all too weird," Rikki said. "Can we just go somewhere else to catch up? Like...the JuiceNet?"

"JuiceNet Café," Cleo said, nodding, trying out the words on her lips. "Perfect."

We all got up out of our seats and headed out.

**_-Cleo POV-_**

"Delicious," I savored, taking another sip of my blueberry juice. "Thanks, Rikki."

"No problem. I knew you'd like it, that's why I suggested it." Rikki fiddled with the straw on her mango juice. "Now mango is my all-time favorite."

"Strawberry banana beats mango hands down," Emma said playfully, taking a sip of her drink. "No doubt about it."

"Strawberry banana is good, but definitely not as good as lime," I put in. I sipped my juice quietly.

We all laughed and began a juice war to see which flavor was the best, which was just settled by us agreeing they were all good.

"I'm glad we're friends again," I said sincerely. "Truth is, I really missed you guys." I felt a lump in my throat.

"Me too," Emma said, smiling warmly.

Rikki put her hand up. "Me three," she said, and pulled us in for a group hug.

We drank our juices for a while, and were about to leave when someone walked up to the JuiceNet's counter and ordered a cranberry booster. All we could see was the back of her, and we studied her shade of red hair. It looked long, coming to the middle of her back.

"Something is familiar about her," I whispered. "That hair shade...but I imagined it shorter."

"Yeah," Rikki said. "I just can't put my finger on it."

The girl received her juice, and slapped down some money on the table. She spun around, revealing to us her face. I gasped inwardly.

"It's..." Rikki started, without finishing.

"No," I whispered, not believing it.

"It's..."

"No."

"It's..."

"NO!" I shouted, and the girl became alert as she looked at us. She waved kindly at us, but there was still something sinister about it. I ducked my head low, not wanting her to see me.

"Come on," Emma said, and we all got up as fast as we could. We pushed everybody out of the way as we made our way into the warm sunshine.

We traveled to the end of the dock before catching our breaths. "Mako, _now_," Emma said sternly, and she dived into the murky waters. Rikki and I looked at each other and shrugged, jumping in after her.

I jet-speed swam to Mako, ignoring the beautiful wildlife growing all around me, and just concentrated on getting to the moon pool. Once I arrived to it, I saw Emma sitting there. I joined her.

Rikki was the last to pop her head up out of the water, and she sat next to us. We all took deep, calming breaths as we tried to register that girl.

"I can't believe..." Rikki started with a sigh, but ended it. After a pause, she started again, "I can't believe _Charlotte_ is back."

**A/N: So, did you like my extra long beginning chapter? I hope that all my chapters are long like this, and detailed. Review, please, they really make my day. Ciao!**

Funny when you're dead how people start listening

_-_The Band Perry, _If I Die Young_

**Chapter One: The First Messages**

**_-Third POV-_**

After that night, the terrifying night where Bella Hartley disappeared, the girls saw less and less of each other. The calls became less frequent, as if the whole Bella thing had gotten the girls paranoid of each other. They began to spend full moons at their own houses, separated. It got so bad that whenever one of them would swim to the moon pool and encounter another girl there, they would quickly—and embarrassedly—leave. During the classes they had together, they didn't make eye contact and only talked if they were partnered up, which was not really something the teachers did. They usually just let them choose their own partners. In the hallways, if one passed another, they wouldn't say hi or hello or even smile. It was like they were never friends. After that night, that terrifying night, they stopped being friends. But all that was changed a year later, the day the girls got a message from B.

**_-Emma POV-_**

I thought that weird panging feeling in my chest whenever I got a bad grade would be over once I got a few. I was dead wrong. It only grew worse.

_Slap!_ Mr. Russell slapped down my test like he was mad. I looked up to see his expression: disappointment. Somehow, I wanted to use ESP to tell him that deep down, I was disappointed too. But I had built up a thick brick wall between me and that feeling, and it was going to take a lot more than the huge wrecking ball of the bad grade to tear down my hard work.

"See me after class," he said sternly, and I couldn't help but want to smash my head on my book, or better, my wood desk. I knew better than to get worked up over another bad grade, but that huge red F staring up at me was mocking me, saying, "You knew question thirteen was choice B. You're so stupid, trying to act cool by getting the wrong answers." I just wanted to yell back that grade, and say, "I wasn't _trying_! I wasn't trying at all! I didn't study or try, so that's why I failed! I'm sorry!" Of course, if I yelled at a sheet of paper, people would think I'm crazy. If I wasn't already crazy, that is.

The bell then rung, high and shrill, but I made no move to escape the class early. I watched as everyone shuffled out, and slowly packed away the cursed paper, not looking forward to seeing Mr. Russell after class. I took my time in gathering up my materials, and slowly but steadily made my way to the front of the desk.

"Emma," Mr. Russell said slowly, breathing out in the same rhythm. "What happened? You used to be an A+ student, now you're barely skimming the surface with the grades you muster now."

What happened? That was his question? What happened was that I stopped caring. What were grades anyway? As long as I made it to the next year of school, I was fine. Now it was senior year, and my grades really had been dropping, because I simply _did not care_. It all didn't matter to me anymore. Basically, the only things that I really did care about now were my midnight swims as a mermaid and Ash.

"Um," I said, slowly breathing out. "I don't know." I shifted uncomfortably to the other foot, wanting to get out of there as quick as I could. I decided to play dumb and act as if I had no clue was he was talking about, or just tell him I didn't know for every question.

"Emma, I hate to break this to you, but if this keeps up, I'm going to have to assign you a tutor." There was no trace of sympathy in his voice.

A tutor? That really hit me like a huge, cold wave just splashing unexpectedly on your face. Not that anything was wrong with having a tutor, but that was just a huge shock for my ears to hear. I used to be the tutor, not the person being tutored. I realized then and there that I probably had to get better grades to avoid the whole tutoring situation. The only reputation with tutors was when Cleo had told Rikki and I about how Charlotte had loaded Cleo with homework when she was her tutor just so Charlotte could be alone with Cleo's ex, Lewis. But the shoe was on the other foot when she lost her mermaid powers and Lewis.

"Mr. Russell, don't worry. I'll try to get better grades, okay? I really will. Please don't get me a tutor just yet. You just watch." I gave him a dazzling smile, and edged my way to the door, hinting that I wanted to go.

"Alright, but Emma, if you get one more bad grade, I will assign you a tutor." He crossed his arms, and leaned back into the plush of the chair like he was satisfied with himself.

"Don't worry Mr. Russell, I've got it all under control. You won't be disappointed," I insisted, and slowly backed up out of the room. He sent me a, "You _better_ have this under control," look, and I escaped.

I quickly collected myself as I exited, only to have a voice behind me say, "What did he want?"

I spun around to see none other than Jenna White, my best friend standing there, clutching her books. I smiled and we started to walk together down the hall.

Jenna White was gorgeous. She had coco brown skin, which was beautiful and radiant. Her intense green eyes seemed to drink in whatever you said, and told you by just looking into them, "Tell me more. I loved to play with you like a puppet." Jenna had long wavy brown hair, which was now pulled back in a ponytail to my dismay. She had talked about getting her hair cut much shorter, but I was always the one to insist that it was great long.

Besides her looks, Jenna was a great person. She was everything you needed in a best friend. She listened to your problems and helped you as much as she could, no matter what would happen to her. She always stuck by my side, through all my mistakes, and I was surprised she had learned to live with all my flaws.

"The usual. He lectured me that if I didn't get my grades back up, he would get me a tutor. He even dared to bring up my past good grades and stellar behavior, and compare it to now. It was all the tests fault, though." I sighed, glad I got it all off my chest.

Jenna was new here, coming to our school at the beginning of senior year, which was not even a month ago. Once I saw her excellent character and fashion sense, I knew she would be a perfect friend now that I didn't hang out with Cleo or Rikki anymore. I tried to keep my past a secret from her (my good grades and goody two-shoes record), but she was good at figuring out secrets. I should be thankful that she hasn't figured out my biggest one yet.

"What test? That easy one in language arts?" Jenna said. She was a straight A student, so I expected her to call it easy. To me, it was pretty difficult.

I buried my pathetic face in my hands. "Great! I failed the _easy_ quiz! What will I get on a hard one?" I handed her the stupid paper that was folded up, and said, "You keep it. I don't want it. It mocks me."

She rolled her eyes. "Drama queen much? Come on Em, it can't be _that bad_." She unfolded the paper and her eyes widened as it skimmed the page, soaking in all the red Xs encircling just about every question number. I could almost see her shock and disappointment showing, and I was crushed.

"Emma," she said slowly, folding up the paper. "You misspelled easy words on here. How'd you do that?"

"I don't know!" I said. "I guess I just stopped trying. School didn't mean anything to me, so I just stopped trying."

"Oh," said Jenna, looking down, not saying a word. I looked at her peculiarly, waiting for her to say something. But she didn't say a word.

I spotted my locker out of the corner of my eye, and said a quick good-bye to Jenna. We parted, and I arrived at my locker, which had paint peeling off of it. I twisted the dial to the correct locker numbers, and pulled down on it. I was granted access to my locker, and I began shoving my books into it.

I grabbed a pack of fruit flavored gum off the shelf, and stuck a piece in my mouth, chewing rapidly to get rid of the sugar so I would be able to blow a bubble. I also grabbed my phone that was nestled in the corner with my colorful scarf. I began flipping through the missed calls and texts, reading each one carefully.

Just then, my phone began to play its ring tone that it plays when I get a text, and to shut it up, I opened the message, and read what was neatly printed on the small glowing screen,

_What happened to goody two shoe's Emma? Did her grades drop dead just when I did?_

_-B_

"What the—" I said, staring at the words. I opened my mouth again, and then snapped it shut. No other words spilled out.

What was this message? Who was it from? I quickly went to a list of my text messages, and it said it was from an unknown number. I selected it, and read it again, over and over. But my eyes just locked on the signature: B. Who was B? Bob? Becky? _Bella?_

No. I snapped my phone shut, shutting out those words. No, it was probably just a prank. Nothing to get worked up over. It was over, and it would never happen again. I'd just delete the message.

But as I was scrolling through my texts again, the bell rang. I groaned, and closed my phone. Deleting the message would have to wait. Right now I had to get to my class.

**_-Cleo POV-_**

"Cleo Sertori to the principal's office, _now_." Wow, that voice did not sound friendly. There was no doubt that I was in trouble. _Big time._

My teacher nodded towards me, and I gathered up my books and slung my backpack over one shoulder. All my classmates stared hard at me, like asking what I did wrong. I just tried hard not to look at them as I made my way out the door.

As I walked down the hallway, I noticed how empty it was without the hustle and bustle of students trying to get to their classes in record time. I could hear the click of my shoes as I walked down the hallway, matched up with the muted voices of the classes that were in session.

Along the way, I couldn't help but wonder why they needed me at the office. Did I do something wrong? Well, let's see. My grades were decent, and anyway I didn't think having bad grades would make them call you down to the office. I hadn't vandalized anything (I never would) and I was pretty much out of the spotlight in school. So what could be the matter?

I hastily moved into the principal's office, feeling unsettled. The only times I had been in here were whenever I had to drop off papers or something, but never if I was in trouble. Well, there was no way to tell if I was in trouble or not, but according to the stern voice on the speaker I was pretty sure I knew.

I took a seat in front of the head desk, and waited for the principal to come out. Instead, the gym coach did.

"Mrs. O'Neill? What are you doing here?" I asked. I thought I was going to the principal, not the coach.

"Cleo, I'll just get straight to the point. You haven't gotten full gym credit because you skipped the swimming course this year. Why?" She crossed her arms and sat down on the principal's usual chair.

So _that_ was what this is about. Well, it was time to come up with a lie as to why I couldn't swim. "I...uh...am...allergic to chlorine?" It came out more like a question. The excuse had been used by Rikki before, so I really hoped she'd believe it. I held my breath as she looked me over, as if seeing if I was lying.

"Like your old friend Rikki, eh?" she said. I wasn't surprised that she said "old friend." Emma, Rikki and I all used to hang out so very often that it was unnatural for us to not hang out together anymore. Pretty much everyone knew we weren't friends anymore, and it was a weird feeling. Almost like if you are being stalked.

"Yeah," I said. "That was kind of the reason we were friends. Similar personalities, you know?" I gripped the chair tight, hoping the coach wouldn't see my distress and lies.

"Okay. Cleo, you're a good student, so I believe you. You'll probably have to make up the credit, but that won't be so hard, will it? You'll probably have the company of others who can't swim in gym, like Rikki." Oh, joy. Rikki. It wasn't like I hated her; it was just that it would be a little uncomfortable around her doing whatever extra credit the Mrs. O'Neill had up her sleeve. And no doubt that Emma would be joining us; it wasn't like she could cry, "Cannonball!" and jump into the pool with the rest of the _normal_ students. Well, we weren't normal. And it kind of sucked that we weren't friends anymore.

"Sure," I said timidly. "Can I go now?" Seeing the look on her face, I quickly put in, "Not to be rude or anything. I just...think the bells going to ring soon. And I don't want to be late, you know." I smiled a good girl smile in hopes that she would free me.

"Alright Cleo, nothing holding you back now. Go ahead," she nodded towards the door, and picked up a thick stack of papers, and looked at them like she needed to sort them or something. I knew better. What kind of gym teacher does paperwork?

"'Kay," I said, shuffling my feet towards the door. "Bye." I slung my backpack over one shoulder and hustled out the door. I made sure to never look back as I left. I wouldn't want a memory anyway.

I made my way through the empty hall, thoughts of me just hanging around by my locker until the bell rang wandering around in my head. No one needed to know. I would just pretend our meeting took up the time between then and when the bell rang. Maybe I could be late for class, and say I was in the office. Oh yes...

But just then, the bell rang. I groaned, tilting my chin up towards the ceiling, silently saying, "One minute. You couldn't have given me one minute in the hall by myself?"

I headed for my original destination: my locker. I opened it and started cramming my books in the locker. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something on the top shelf.

"What's this?" I said quietly to myself, and grabbed the folded piece of notebook paper lying innocently on my shelf. I unfolded it, getting a little excited. I hoped it would be from Lewis. I loved his little random text messages or notes passed to me in class telling me how much he loved me.

The paper revealed a typed message in the center. _Strange,_ I thought. _Wouldn't a typed message usually be on blank computer paper?_ I ran my finger on the ripped edge of the paper as I read,

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue._

_Cleo is a big fat liar,_

_I know she agrees too._

_-B_

I just stared, open mouthed, at the anonymous note. Wait, could I really call it anonymous? It was signed, after all. I squinted at the simple, yet confusing, signature: B. Who the heck was B? I just sighed, and folded up the paper. I was getting a little freaked out right now. Who could be B, and why did she pick me to send a note to?

**_-Rikki POV-_**

"I hate this," I heard a low hiss in my ear. I smiled, knowing exactly who it was. I turned to see Zane, walking away from me and towards a stage helper, giving me a glare.

"You lost the bet!" I whisper-yelled back to him. "And I told you if you lost, you had to try out for the play with me." I really hadn't known Zane would hate the whole acting in a play thing. I guess it just wasn't his thing. But I did know something: acting was _my_ thing. I loved to shed my other self and just become someone else, hold their worry or happiness, feel their pain or love. I just wanted to share that with Zane, but I guess he just couldn't grasp it the way I could.

I smoothed out the font of my costume. It was itchy and clung to me in all the wrong ways, but I really didn't mind. We were doing a play that was set in medieval times, and I got the lead as a princess. It _really_ didn't fit my real wild, rebellious attitude, but that was what acting was about, right? Becoming someone new. So I was becoming a whole new person with a completely different manner, like trying on a different set of clothes. People wanted to change all the time, but had no idea where to start. Why not start with a play? You could try it on for size to see if you liked it.

I was way too busy in my thoughts to really register what was going on in the world around me. I was just standing in the middle of the stage, waiting for the director to tell us what scene we'd be practicing next, when all of a sudden I heard a cry of, "Oh my God, look out!"

I turned around, startled, to see the huge and heavy prop of the castle behind me looming over me. What was so bad about that? But then I saw as it seemed to get closer to me, bending down to look me square in the eye. It was falling on top of me!

I just stood in shock. My cloudy mind commanded my frozen feet to move, but they wouldn't obey. Instead, they stood, locked in place. The castle looked heavy, and I knew that if it crashed on top of me it would probably hurt badly. Even with those thoughts in my head, I just couldn't move.

I felt a powerful blow on my right side, pushing me out of the way. I lost my balance and fell down out of the way, skidding over to the left side. I kept sliding on the polished floor, and when I finally stopped, I looked up to see what happened.

The castle prop was lying down on the floor, its unpainted side sticking up. The stage helpers were rushing to put it back up like it was a huge deal, when all they needed was a few people to lift the fat thing up. I registered enough to realize that there was another person lying by me.

"Zane?" I said astonished, as he stood up, brushing off his medieval clothes as if his heroic deed was nothing. He gave me a hand, which I took gratefully. I stood up and tried to smooth out my dress.

"Thanks," I said, really meaning it. "That thing could have crushed me."

"Do I get a prize for saving you? Like quitting the play?" he said hopefully, smiling at me in a goofy and jokingly matter.

"Don't push your luck," I warned. I turned to the director and said, "Can we take five? My side hurts from where Zane crashed into me."

He nodded. "Sorry about that, Rikki, I'll make sure next time to make it more secure." He flipped through a few pages with scrawled black ink writing on them on his clipboard and wrote himself a little note.

"It was an accident," I assured him. I turned back to Zane. "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back, okay?" He nodded, and I stood on my tiptoes, and began to kiss him passionately.

"PDA! PDA!" someone shouted from back stage, and I abruptly ended the kiss and turned to the owner of the voice.

"Shut up Nate," I muttered, embarrassed. Nate had never given up on his annoying attitude, and it really peeved me that he was working the sound effects. See, he recently got detention for fighting with some guy who was in a relationship with this girl he liked. He either had the choice of being suspended or working the play. Guess which one he chose?

I walked off the stage, constantly adjusting my outfit to fit me. Once I arrived at the bathroom, I just gave up on it, realizing that it was just useless.

I shut myself up in a stall and lifted up the bottom of the all too girly dress to reveal my comfy jeans. I dug my hand in my one pocket, and produced my cell phone, where I scrolled through my text messages. Most of them were from Zane, but some were from my friends around the school. But the most recent one came from an anonymous person, and my phone refused to show me the number. I opened it up, and found a message neatly printed on the glowing screen,

_Zane saved the castle prop from killing you. Who's going to stop me?_

_-B_

I just gaped at the screen for the longest time, not moving. The screen eventually went black and went into sleep mode. When I finally got a grip, I shut the phone and shivered, and I was suddenly covered with the feeling of being watched.

Was the message supposed to be a death threat or something? But who would want to kill me? Had I made any enemies lately? Not that I recalled of. So who would want me to die?

I sighed outwardly, and straightened my dress. As I walked out and looked at myself in the glossy mirror, I gasped. "Of course!" I said, and my reflection said the same thing. I was filled with anger and rage at the person who sent me that hate message, but I would deal with them later. Right now I had a play to rehearse.

OoOoO

"Hello?"

"So not funny," I said in the coldest, meanest and most hateful voice I could muster.

"Huh? Who is this?" the voice said, confused for a moment. I heard shuffling on the one end, probably her getting up off of a couch or bed.

"What, you deleted me off your contact list?" I said coldly. "I actually don't blame you. I deleted yours too. But sending me death threats? That was the lowest of the low." I gripped my phone tight, so tight that I was afraid I might crush it.

"_Rikki_?" she said in an astonished tone. "What...after a year, why are you calling me?"

"Emma," I said, keeping my voice even, even though saying it sounded weird. The name tasted familiar, yet distant. I felt like I hadn't said it in a while, but in all honestly, it felt good to say it again. "I know you sent me that death threat."

"Death threat?" she said in a surprised tone. If I wasn't so convinced it was her I might had thought it might not had been her. "Rikki, even though we're not friends, I would never, _ever_, send you a death threat."

I was taken aback. Her voice sounded so sincere. How could it have been her? I suddenly felt stupid for thinking such a think, and embarrassed for calling after all this time. "I'm sorry," I mumbled apologetically. "I wasn't thinking rationally. I'll, uh...see you around, I guess. Bye."

I was about to hang up the phone when Emma stopped me. "Wait! Rikki, was your death threat signed by someone named B?"

"B?" I said stupidly. "Now that I think about it...yes. Yes it was. Why do you ask?"

"Because I got a message from B too," she said, excited. "Rikki, do you know anyone else who got a message?"

"Besides you? No one." I was pretty shocked. I didn't know B had made an unexpected message to the both of us. "Wait, Emma, you don't think _Cleo_ got one, do you?"

"Cleo?" she asked. "Oh my God, I think she did. Listen, meet me at my house in fifteen." I heard a pause, and I could practically _see_ the smile creep up on her face. "Did you forget how to get there?"

"Please. How could I forget when I sneak over ever Saturday to steal your snacks?" I said, smirking quietly to myself.

"Rikki! Tell me you're kidding," Emma said seriously. I cracked up laughing. It felt really good to laugh with Emma, like it used to be.

"No need to get all worked up. Okay, I'll be over soon," I promised. "See you then."

"But you never told me if you sneak over or not!" Emma pointed out. I smiled. Ah, Emma. Always the worrywart.

Without even answering (I didn't feel the need to), I hung up. I just stared at my phone, and processed what happened quickly through my head, and how my whole life had just changed through that one little phone call. I smiled down at the phone, and, as loud as I could, I screamed, "Yes! We're friends again!"

I instantly covered my mouth, not realizing how loud that sounded until it all came tumbling out of my mouth. I thanked my lucky stars that my dad wasn't home, and excitedly grabbed my jacket and rushed out the door, making it a world record.

**_-Cleo POV-_**

I felt my phone vibrate on my stomach. I giggled at the sensation, and picked it off. I closed the boring book I was reading. Lewis recommended it to me, but I had barely known a word in the book, and the ones I did were so dreary that I almost fell asleep.

I looked at the caller ID to see who was calling. I stared in shock at it for a second. It read, _Emma._

"Emma?" I said in the vast space of my bedroom. I didn't waste another second as I flipped it open and said in a shaky and questioning voice, "Uh, hello?"

Her laughter sounded like music to me. It was a song I had listened to forever, but then forgot all about it and the magical properties it had. But I had found it again, and I loved it even more. "Yeah, you sound surprised. I don't blame you. I sounded pretty surprised when Rikki called me today."

"What's going on?" I questioned, my voice hoarse. She didn't seem to be making any sense at all.

"I never even intended on calling you today," she continued. "But...Cleo, did you get a message signed by B?"

I froze, my jaw locking in place and every muscle in my body screaming that it didn't want to move. I could just stay in place on my bed, not caring that Emma was waiting for my answer. I was just in shock.

"Cleo?" she asked in a timid voice. She probably thought that I hadn't gotten a message and was feeling a bit embarrassed that she had asked. "Sorry to ask, I guess you didn't. I was just curious. Um...bye."

"How did you know?" I whispered, now gaining back my ability to move at least my mouth. I was still in shock. How would Emma, in all the people of the world, know I had gotten a message from B?

"Because Rikki and I got one too," she said slowly. Then she choked on her last words, "And Rikki's was a death threat." I stayed silent; soaking in the info she just gave me. "Rikki is coming over to my house. Come over too, okay? We can catch up and discuss this whole B thing."

"Sure," I said slowly. "I'll...I'll be right over." I hung up the phone and just sat in stunned silence. After a few minutes of that, I realized I'd better get moving. I got up out of my bed and walked downstairs.

"Hey, Cleo, want to join Kim and me in a board game?" my father said, piping up from the living room. I swiveled my head to catch a glimpse of my dad and sister on opposite ends of the coffee table with game pieces parts scattered all over the table.

"Dad, as much as I'd like to beat you in a board game, I can't. I'm going to Emma's house." When seeing his shocked expression, I quickly added, "Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, sure," he said rapidly. "It's just...you haven't hung out with Emma in such a long time. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," I said slowly. "We just decided to catch up. Nothing wrong with that."

"Well, I'm glad you two are friends now," he said gladly.

I plucked off my jacket of the row of hooks and jammed my arm in one sleeve. "Dad, this doesn't mean we're friends again," I said, not wanting to get his hopes up. I knew too well that after we parted our separate ways, we'd pretty much never see each other again.

"Bye dad," I said, and opened then door. The bright sunlight dazzled me for a second, but I continued to walk through it, smiling the whole way.

**_-Emma POV-_**

I nervously paced back and forth in front of the door. What if they decided to bail? It _had_ been a whole year. Maybe they decided just to meet up with each other and leave me behind in the dust. Maybe they thought _I_ had sent B's messages just to bring us closer together, and they decided not to come for that reason. Maybe...

_Come on, Emma, think rationally_, a voice in my head screamed at me in an alarming tone. _They're coming soon. Don't worry._ I smiled, knowing it was true. I was being silly.

Just then, the doorbell rang, chirping a high note. "I'll get it!" I yelled, just in case there was someone else in the house going to get it.

I wrenched open the door to find Cleo and Rikki standing on my doorstep. I nervously laughed. "You guys...walked together?" My nightmares were coming true. They had picked one another over me. What if they abandoned me what I least expected it? What if...

"Nah," Rikki said, interrupting my train of thoughts. "We arrived at the same time. Uh...can we come in?"

"Sure," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed for blocking the entrance and leaving them outside. I moved out of the way and the girls entered, looking around and taking in any changes made to my house.

We settled ourselves on my sofa in the living room, and no one said a word. We just sat there, wallowing in silence.

"So..." I said slowly, wanting to bring up some small talk. I suddenly forgot why I invited them here.

"What happened?" Cleo said, breaking the imaginary small talk and just bursting out. Rikki and I stared blankly at her.

Blushing, she said, "I mean, after Bella...disappeared. We just broke off, like Bella was holding us together, when Emma, you barely even knew her!"

"Yeah," I said quietly. I played with my hair, something I do when I'm nervous or anxious. "All I knew of her was that I hated her." I instantly regretted saying that, and tried to tell myself that this was Rikki and Cleo I was talking to, and they used to be friends with her. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"No, you were just speaking the truth," Rikki said. "Don't apologize. Right now, let's talk B. What were your guys messages?"

"Well," Cleo said, breathing out slowly. "I was called down to the principal's office and the gym teacher asked why I wasn't swimming like I was supposed to. I lied, and when I left, I found a note in my locker that said...well, why don't you guys read it?" She pulled out a folded up piece of notebook paper out of her pocket and handed it to me.

"Roses are red, violets are blue. Cleo is a big fat liar; I know she agrees too," I read, taking my time to absorb what was typed up on the paper. "Oh, Cleo," I said, and hugged my sad friend. "Rikki, why don't you tell us your story?"

"Um, I was rehearsing with Zane for the school play when the director yelled cut," Rikki said.

"Wait, you tried out for the school play? With _Zane_?" I said, astonished. I had never seen Rikki as the acting type.

"He lost a bet," she offered. "And yes, I did. After we sort of...stopped being friends, I found a love in acting. Okay, back to my story. The play was set in medieval times, and we had a huge and heavy castle prop. It was about to fall on me when Zane pushed me out of the way. After that, I took a five minute break and went to the bathroom where I checked my text messages, and this is what I found." She flipped through her texts, and found the message. This time, Cleo read it.

"Zane saved the castle prop from killing you. Who's going to stop me?" Cleo read. She gasped, and handed Rikki back her phone. "Wow, mine wasn't _that_ hurtful," she said. "Emma? What about your story?"

"Well, I got an F on a test in language arts," I started, and braced myself for the explosion.

"You got an F?" Cleo yelled, and I covered up her mouth with my hand.

"You want my parents to hear?" I asked. Thank goodness Rikki was just sitting there, mouth wide open.

"How could you get an F? I thought you were a straight A student," Cleo said.

"My grades dropped. What can I say?" I said matter-of-factly. "Let me continue. I got to my locker after a rant from the teacher, and found a text." I handed it off to Rikki, who hadn't gotten a chance to read it yet.

"What happened to goody two shoe's Emma? Did her grades drop dead just when I did?" Rikki read. Confused, she said, "But Bella isn't dead...is she?"

"She's missing, so I don't know," I said. "But these are all signed B, so do you guys really think they're from Bella?"

"Maybe she's back, and she's hinting to it by the texts. Maybe they're over, and she's not sending anymore," Cleo said hopefully.

"If she's hinting, she's not hinting very nicely," I said, my mind flashing back to Rikki's message. As if reading my mind, Rikki nodded.

"This is just all too weird," Rikki said. "Can we just go somewhere else to catch up? Like...the JuiceNet?"

"JuiceNet Café," Cleo said, nodding, trying out the words on her lips. "Perfect."

We all got up out of our seats and headed out.

**_-Cleo POV-_**

"Delicious," I savored, taking another sip of my blueberry juice. "Thanks, Rikki."

"No problem. I knew you'd like it, that's why I suggested it." Rikki fiddled with the straw on her mango juice. "Now mango is my all-time favorite."

"Strawberry banana beats mango hands down," Emma said playfully, taking a sip of her drink. "No doubt about it."

"Strawberry banana is good, but definitely not as good as lime," I put in. I sipped my juice quietly.

We all laughed and began a juice war to see which flavor was the best, which was just settled by us agreeing they were all good.

"I'm glad we're friends again," I said sincerely. "Truth is, I really missed you guys." I felt a lump in my throat.

"Me too," Emma said, smiling warmly.

Rikki put her hand up. "Me three," she said, and pulled us in for a group hug.

We drank our juices for a while, and were about to leave when someone walked up to the JuiceNet's counter and ordered a cranberry booster. All we could see was the back of her, and we studied her shade of red hair. It looked long, coming to the middle of her back.

"Something is familiar about her," I whispered. "That hair shade...but I imagined it shorter."

"Yeah," Rikki said. "I just can't put my finger on it."

The girl received her juice, and slapped down some money on the table. She spun around, revealing to us her face. I gasped inwardly.

"It's..." Rikki started, without finishing.

"No," I whispered, not believing it.

"It's..."

"No."

"It's..."

"NO!" I shouted, and the girl became alert as she looked at us. She waved kindly at us, but there was still something sinister about it. I ducked my head low, not wanting her to see me.

"Come on," Emma said, and we all got up as fast as we could. We pushed everybody out of the way as we made our way into the warm sunshine.

We traveled to the end of the dock before catching our breaths. "Mako, _now_," Emma said sternly, and she dived into the murky waters. Rikki and I looked at each other and shrugged, jumping in after her.

I jet-speed swam to Mako, ignoring the beautiful wildlife growing all around me, and just concentrated on getting to the moon pool. Once I arrived to it, I saw Emma sitting there. I joined her.

Rikki was the last to pop her head up out of the water, and she sat next to us. We all took deep, calming breaths as we tried to register that girl.

"I can't believe..." Rikki started with a sigh, but ended it. After a pause, she started again, "I can't believe _Charlotte_ is back."

**A/N: So, did you like my extra long beginning chapter? I hope that all my chapters are long like this, and detailed. Review, please, they really make my day. Ciao!**


	4. Chapter 4 i thought they were over

**A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers, and here's the next chapter.**

_Mystery is another name for our ignorance; if we were omniscient, all would be perfectly plain._

_-Tryon Edwards_

**Chapter Two: I Thought They Were Over**

**_-Cleo POV-_**

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_ Now who could be making that rather annoying sound? I was trying to sleep, but that noise was keeping me from doing just that.

I wrenched open my eyes and peeked at my alarm clock. It read in bright, bold red letters _5:30 am._

I groaned and stretched. Usually, people that went to my school had to get up around 6:30 am. But I got up and extra hour earlier to run.

I got up out of my bed, leaving behind the warmth of the fuzzy blankets and ventured into the cold unknown. I was pretty chilled, so I slipped into my fuzzy slippers. I knew from school that heat mostly escapes through your feet or head, so I was always to make sure to put on my slippers and get my feet warm so in return I'd be warm.

I went downstairs and into the kitchen. I took out a brand of cereal and poured myself some, along with milk. I took out a spoon and dipped it into the cereal, feeding myself swiftly.

When I was done, I put my bowl in the sink. Being careful as to not get myself wet, I turned on the water and let it lightly rinse the bowl. I shut off the water, and changed into my clothes.

I pulled on my jogging shorts and tank top. I stuck my iPod in a tight pocket on the side of my pants. I brushed out my hair vigorously and tied it up in a ponytail. I traveled downstairs and pulled on my running sneakers.

I got outside, and took a deep breath in, smelling the morning nature. I turned it on and set it to the cycle mode. I cranked it up, realizing that it was playing my favorite song. I looked out into the horizon, planned my route even though it was the same one I took everyday, and took off running.

I felt the wind whip on my cheeks, cold and refreshing. I could see early risers coming out of their houses to pick up their newspapers, and once or twice I passed joggers such as myself.

I began to feel burning pain, but just as my coach for cross-country told us to, I kept running through it. I blurred out everything else, and it was just me and my running. I have never felt more at peace in the world than when I run.

Sooner than I had expected, I had ran my miles and arrived back at the house. I pulled my iPod earphones out of my ears, silencing the song it was playing. I shut it down, and headed inside.

"Oh, look, Cleo's back from her jogging," my dad said, beaming at me. "Earlier than usual. Is this a record?"

I looked over to the clock, and shook my head in dismay. "No. Short by two minutes." I turned my head back to him and gave him a dazzling white smile. "But I will someday, dad."

"Yeah, right," snorted Kim, who was sitting at the table, eating some fruit in yogurt. "_I_ could beat you, Cleo."

"Yeah?" I said, trying to intimidate her. "Alright. After school. Three miles. How does that sound?"

She instantly paled, putting down her spoon that held a mouthful of strawberry yogurt. "Uh, I was kidding."

I laughed, and after a while, she joined in. Kim and I had gotten closer since I first became a mermaid, which was a good thing. Still, she had her flaws, and we did fight over things constantly. But it had gotten better.

I smiled, thinking back to the first time I challenged her to a race. I had just started training, and was pretty good at running. I had beaten her by a good three minutes. After that, she had never wanted to race me anymore.

If I hadn't trained when we raced, I probably would have beaten her anyway, due to the fact that I was older and had longer legs than her.

"I'm going to get going to school, okay?" I said, picking up my backpack. "Bye, dad." He nodded at me, silently exchanging his good-bye.

For a good measure, I began jogging to school. I was pretty excited for school (creepy, huh?) mostly because I was now friends with Cleo and Emma again. I wanted to hang out with them much more, but didn't want to creep them out.

I instantly stopped when I thought of Charlotte. Wouldn't she be at school? I grimaced inwardly at that thought. No _way_ I was going to let Charlotte ruin my senior year, though. I wouldn't allow it. I just wouldn't.

I caught up to the school, where I looked the massive, looming school square in the eye. I found Emma, Rikki, and Lewis already there, waiting for me.

"Slow poke," Rikki said, poking me playfully. I just smiled. Rikki really hadn't changed at all when we were separated, besides the whole acting thing.

"I can't believe you guys are friends again!" said Lewis. "You know that Cleo just has not been the same without you two."

"Lewis," I said embarrassedly, like saying it to a dad showing your boyfriend baby pictures of you. "Please."

"Sorry, Cleo, I've just never seen you so happy," Lewis said, smiling delicately.

"I don't blame you Cleo. Zane's pretty happy we're friends again too," Rikki said. "What about Ash, Emma?"

"Yeah," she said dreamily as we entered the school building. "He knows I had been pretty upset that we weren't friends, and when I told him the news, he was practically bouncing off the walls in joy." We all giggled as Emma looked away from us. "Hey, here's my locker. Bye, guys. See you later." She gave a little wave and parted.

Rikki soon left our group and went her own way to her locker. That only left Lewis and I.

He followed me to my locker and watched as I put in my combination. I didn't care as his eyes lingered over my lock; he already knew my combination.

I crammed my books into my overly disastrous locker before slamming it shut. I looked over into Lewis's beautiful eyes. I took his warm hands in mine, and he slowly came closer to my lips.

As we were about to kiss, I pulled away, still grasping his hands. "Um," I said, clearing my throat. "Sorry. But...Lewis?"

"Yeah, Cleo?" he said, his eyes lingering in mine. They were filled with hurt that I didn't kiss him, and I wanted so badly to correct my mistake.

"Do you love me?" I said, taking in deep breaths. I looked up into his eyes, waiting for an answer, and making sure it was truthful.

"Of course," he said. "I always had." I smiled, knowing from his eyes that it was true. I saw no hint of a lie in them.

"Good," I said. "Because Charlotte's back." Before he could react, I pulled him closer, sealing the distance between us with our lips.

**_-Emma POV-_**

"Hey, you're not abandoning me, right?" asked a voice behind me. I closed my locker and spun around to face a smiling Jenna.

"Abandoning you?" I said blandly. "Why would you think that?" I licked my dry lips, but silently cursed as I did so. Licking your lips made them dry out. I made a silent note to self to apply some chap stick.

"Well, it's pretty obvious Rikki and Cleo are your friends again. I just don't want to be left behind." She looked at the ground with obvious embarrassment.

"Oh, come on! No matter how many friends I get, we will still be besties," I said, using the uncomfortably cute pet name for best friends. She smiled at my try.

"Hey, I have an idea!" I said. "Why don't you meet them?"

"Oh...I don't know. What if they don't like me?" That was Jenna, always the self conscious one.

"They will," I insisted. "Come over to my house after school. We can meet up with them at Cleo's house or the JuiceNet or something."

"Okay," she said unsteadily. "But if they hate me, it's on your head."

I faked being scared and shielded myself from her. She laughed giddily and waved good-bye to me, informing me that she wanted to get to her class before the tardy bell rung.

I took my time gathering my books up and heading to class. I observed that the hallways were thinning out, a sign that the bell was going to ring soon and I'd better get a move on. But I was too preoccupied in my own thoughts of Jenna meeting Emma, Cleo and Rikki to take notice.

I was almost at the class when the bell rung. I was surprised; I hadn't known it to be so soon. I rushed towards the classroom, and skidded to a halt in the doorframe. I spotted the teacher with his back turned, scribbling something on the blackboard. I planned to sneak into the class and quickly take my seat, but someone in place of the usually empty spot where it used to hold a girl that moved to southern Australia caught my attention. Her red hair flew around as she spun to look at me. She gave me a half smile and a wave, but all I could do was stare open mouthed at her.

"Ahem," Mr. Green said, clearing his throat. "Emma, would you care to join the rest of the class?"

There was a sea of giggles as I plopped down at my seat, a deep red blooming on my face. I tried to stay out of attention for the rest of the day, and made even more sure not to look at the new girl, Charlotte Watsford.

Class passed by swiftly, and as the bell rang, I picked up my stuff and power walked out the door.

"Emma?" said a voice behind me, and I cringed. I had been dreading talking to her. Silently, I spun around.

"Can we talk outside of the classroom?" Charlotte asked nervously, her eyes glancing over to Mr. Green, who looked like he was eavesdropping.

"With you? Hell no," I said bluntly, and turned around to exit the room as quick as I could. But Charlotte stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Please?" she pleaded. "Thirty seconds. You can count."

I sighed outwardly as if I were doing her some big favor by talking to her. "Thirty seconds _only._" I led her out of the room and we stopped by a wall in the hall.

"Start talking," I said rudely.

"Okay, let me start at the beginning. I am so incredibly sorry for acting like a jerk before. I was crazy and uncontrollable. I know you will never forgive me, but I just wanted to let you know that. Second, I didn't come back to ruin your life. My mom got transferred back here, and I wanted desperately to go to another school for you and Cleo and Rikki's sakes, but I was within the boundaries for the school and I had no other choice. I just want to say that there is no doubt that you'll be seeing me everyday, but you don't have to talk to me. I don't want to come off as a threat, is all." She took a deep breath after getting it all off her chest.

I sat in stunned silence for a while, just listening to the guilty breathing of Charlotte. I looked up into her eyes, and said, "Really?"

"Really," she said, smiling. "So can we just...start over?"

All hope for this girl was lost. "Charlotte, we've been through way too much to just forget all of it and never look back. But I'll take your suggestion, and not see you as a threat." I turned away, and left.

**_-Rikki POV-_**

_Zane saved the castle prop from killing you. Who's going to stop me?_

_-B_

I couldn't stop from reading the text message over and over again. I would reread each word again gently and with fragile, really taking in the meaning (more than it was intended.) And no matter how many times I read it, how many times a cold chill ran up my spine, and how many times I wondered if she was serious, I just couldn't tear my eyes away.

"Hey, what are you doing?" an all too familiar voice asked. I snapped my phone shut and swiveled my neck around, looking at a smiling Cleo. She had her backpack slung over one shoulder, and one hand was holding the strap to it that was planted on her shoulder. The other was by her side, grasping a water bottle and granola bar. "Mind if I sit?" She gestured to the seat next to me on the picnic table I was sitting at.

"Of course," I said, a little troubled that she asked. Not that I didn't want her sitting here, it was just that back when we best friends, she would probably just plop down without asking. That was what friends did. But it was a little uncomfortable around each other, but we were trying to get used to one another once more.

It was our lunch period, and I, not feeling hungry, made my way back here to get some fresh air and breath a little. Somehow my hand had gotten hold of my phone, and I couldn't help myself as I scrolled through the texts, looking for the special one.

Cleo sat down next to me, and cracked open her water bottle. She took a giant swig of it, and wiped her mouth. She then unwrapped her chocolate chip granola bar and, seeing that I had no lunch, broke it in half and offered some to me.

I politely nodded, and took the granola bar from her hungrily. As I stuffed it in my mouth, I said between chews, "So, where's Emma?"

"I don't know," shrugged Cleo, taking a small bite out of one end of the granola bar. "Last time I saw her she was talking on the phone to Ash."

"Okay," I said, half-smiling.

"So, what have you been up to?" Cleo asked, glancing at my phone. She must have seen me on my phone.

I sighed in defeat, and flipped open the phone, handing it to Cleo. "I can't stop reading the text! It disturbs me so much! Who is B, anyway?" I took my head in my hands, sighing in dismay.

Cleo shook her head angrily at the phone screen. "I thought we agreed that B was a one time thing, just trying to get us to be friends again. It was probably just a random stranger who noticed how sad we were without each other, and sent those anonymous texts. Whoever it was," she said, and slung an arm around me, "She did the right thing. We're friends again, aren't we?"

"Well, yeah," I admitted. "I guess." But that text seemed like much more to me. If it was just some random person trying to get us back together, why did they send such weird and mysterious texts? And not to mention my death threat?

"Good," Cleo said, and smugly handed back my phone.

"Cleo, what did you do?" I stared gaping at the phone, which now read, _Message Deleted._

"Like I said, B was a one time thing," insisted Cleo. "Deleting the message will be better for you, you see. It'll take your mind off of it."

We sat there in silence, and I finally picked up the rest of the granola bar and ate it. Cleo finished off her granola bar, and got up. "Hey, I'll be inside for the rest of the time. I'm going to meet up with Lewis and—," She was cut off by my phone playing my text ring tone.

I looked up at Cleo, fear obviously written across my face. She took in a deep breath, and said, "Rikki, please. The B thing is over. It'll never happen again. The text is probably from Zane or Emma."

"You're right," I said, but I didn't hold much enthusiasm as I flipped open the phone and hit, _View Message._ Cleo started to leave, just in case it was Zane and I wanted privacy in viewing the message, but it wasn't him.

"Wait, stay Cleo," I ordered her, and she obeyed, sitting down.

"What?" Cleo asked. "Is it Emma?"

"No," I whispered, closing my eyes. I reopened them, studying the fogged up screen from where I breathed on it. "And you said B was a once time thing, huh?"

Cleo froze, looking scared. I bit my lip, and began to read out loud,

_You're too busy getting worked up over one death threat that you couldn't come to the conclusion that there are plenty more to come._

_-B_

"Oh my God," Cleo said, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry Rikki, I thought they were over. I guess they aren't."

"We have to warn Emma. She thinks they're over, too. Better safe than sorry," I said, and we both looked at each other. After a moment, we all gathered up our stuff and headed out.

**_-Emma POV-_**

I scuffled through my stuff, taking out random books and papers and organizing them back in their places. I threw out different papers that were shoved carelessly into my locker and organized them into two piles: things I needed (mostly homework and study guides) and things I didn't need (mostly old homework, graded papers/tests, and handouts that I didn't need because we were done with that unit of study.) When I was done, I threw out the things I didn't need, and put the things I needed in their designated folders. I then replaced all the textbooks, folders, and binders back in my locker, organized my other stuff like a calendar I kept hung up on my locker door, and proudly marveled at it. Done! I was done cleaning out my locker that was overdue for its cleaning.

I shut my locker tight, trying not to tousle the things inside as they were so neatly put away. As I stared at the outside of my locker for a fraction of a second, I heard a, "Emma! Emma!" coming from down the hall.

"What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be at lunch?" I asked as I studied my two out of breath friends.

"We were," insisted Cleo. "But then we got this text." She nudged Rikki, who then handed me her phone.

I looked at the two queerly and just looked at the screen. I slowly read the text, and my heart froze as I saw that it was signed by B.

"Wow," I said, handing the phone back to Rikki. "I guess B's games aren't over."

"Who the hell is B anyway?" Rikki said, putting her hands on her hips, obviously distraught that she hadn't figured it out yet.

"I um...had a theory," I said, embarrassed. All eyes turned to me.

"Really? What is it?" Cleo asked, interested in my hypothesis.

"Bella," I whispered, short and simple, sweet and to the point.

"Bella?" Rikki said, whispering like me too. "But...I thought she was dead."

"She's not dead," insisted Cleo. "She's missing. That doesn't necessarily means she's dead." It looked like Cleo still hadn't given up hope that Bella was still out there, even though the odds were against her.

"Alright," Rikki said slowly. "Let's assume it _is_ Bella. What does she want to do with us? Why can't she just come to us in person and tell us she's back? More importantly, why is she sending us such hateful messages?"

"God, you're full of questions," I said, facing the two. "Too bad we have no answers."

The bell rang, marking the end of the senior lunch period. I said, "Okay, on a lighter note, I'm going to come over with a friend after school, okay? She's a really great person," I said, meaning Jenna.

"Okay," Cleo said, smiling. "Can't wait to meet her." We all waved bye to each other, and I went about opening my locker _again_.

OoOoO

"You'll love them," I gushed, leading Jenna down the sidewalk. "Cleo has brown hair, and has a more shy personality. Not as much as before, though. Her boyfriend is Lewis McCartney, you know, that kid in your history class? Okay, so then there's Rikki. She's got a more fiery attitude, it's so cool. She's got blonde curly hair and blue eyes. Her boyfriend is Zane Bennett, who you probably know as 'that rich, snobby kid.' So they..."

"Emma," Jenna cut me off. "I get it. You can spare me the physical details. Let me just meet them, okay?" She smiled a dazzling smile at me.

I nodded. "Sure. And sorry, I'm just so nervous."

"Why?" Jenna asked, genuinely curious. "The worst thing that could happen is that we won't like each other. Not a big deal."

"I know," I said, sighing outwardly. "It's just that I have had a bad experience with first acquaintances. See, when I got back from my world tour, Rikki and Cleo showed me their new friend, and we didn't exactly get along."

"Oh. Who was she?" Jenna asked, then quickly put in, "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay."

"That's okay," I said with a nervous laugh, and I rubbed my arm to keep out the chills. I lowered my voice to a whisper and said, "Her name was Bella."

"Bella Hartley? The girl who disappeared?" Jenna asked, widely curious.

I gulped in a fresh breath of air, as if Bella was watching us then and there, and choking off all oxygen to me. "Yeah," I whispered. "She, ah, disappeared the night I met her. We were having a sleepover," I explained. The tears that were threatening to spill did. I tried to wipe those traitor tears away, but they kept coming. "And I can't help but think it was all my fault, because it was," I said, choking down on my sobs.

Jenna wrapped her arms around me, tightly squeezing me in a hug. She then stroked my hair in a comforting way. "Don't worry. Whatever Bella did, I won't do. Okay?"

"Promise?" I said.

"Promise," she confirmed with a smile and a quick nod of the head.

"Okay," I said. "That's all I need." We continued to walk to Cleo's house.

Jenna walked home with me after school to go to Cleo's house like I promised Jenna and the girls. We might even go to the JuiceNet later.

"Here we are," I said, gesturing to Cleo's house like it was my own and I was showing off.

Jenna gave an approving nod. "Cozy," she said. "Let's meet the girls, shall we?"

I smiled, taken by her happiness and enthusiasm. I was thrilled that Jenna already was looking forward to meeting the girls, and that this would probably end up the opposite of the Bella thing.

I rapped twice on the door, and then waited for an answer. Fifteen and a half seconds later, Cleo opened the door with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey Emma," she said, expecting her and Jenna to be here. She turned to Jenna with the same eager smile. "And you must be Jenna." Cleo extended her arm with politeness.

"Yeah," Jenna said, taking her hand. "And you must be Cleo." Jenna smiled, and said, "Hey, Emma, you were right. She does have brown hair!"

While Jenna erupted in giggles I blushed a deep crimson red while Cleo gave me a, "What?" look. I flashed her back a, "I'll tell you later."

Cleo invited the giddy Jenna and I inside the house. Jenna's eyes scoped the area as Cleo directed me to set down my jacket on one of the jacket hooks.

"Here, Jenna, you get put your jacket on a hook next to Emma's," Cleo said, motioning towards where I hung up my jacket.

"I'm okay," insisted Jenna. "I always get cold, so it's best I just keep it on."

"Suit yourself," Cleo said with a small smile, which Jenna returned. I wanted to cheer in victory. They liked each other! Now to see about Rikki...

We headed upstairs, where we went to Cleo's room. Once Cleo creaked open her door, I was pelted in the face with a potato chip.

"Attackers!" I heard a cry, and saw Rikki sprawled on the bed, a bag of potato chips on her stomach. When she saw me, she put her fingers to her lips, trying to hide her smile. "Oh, sorry Emma."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, glancing at the discarded chip at my feet.

"Rikki," Cleo scolded, picking up the chip. "I told you not to make a mess of my room. Where did you get that bag?"

Rikki pointed blindly to the right of her. "Kim's room," she explained, munching on a chip.

Cleo nodded slowly, and Rikki sat herself up on the bed and got up. "Hey, I'm Rikki. Are you Jenna?" Rikki said to Jenna.

"Yeah," Jenna said, and shook hands with Rikki. She then made her way to the bed and grabbed a chip in the bag. "So, what now?"

"Are you guys eating dinner here?" Cleo offered, planting herself on the bed too.

"I'm not doing anything special," I said, and Rikki and Jenna nodded in agreement. I turned to Cleo. "What are you guys having?"

"We're doing a cookout. Hotdogs and hamburgers," Cleo said.

"Yum," Jenna said. "I'm in."

"Me too," I said.

"Me three," Rikki said, smiling.

I finally felt at peace. I was back to being friends with Rikki and Cleo, and B wasn't bothering us at the moment (though I knew she'd be back.)

"There," I said, typing in the last numbers into my phone. "I entered you guys back into my contacts. I just need your picture profiles." I held up the phone to Rikki. "Say cheese."

She struck a pose, looking like a ridiculous model. I giggled as I hit save. I them held it up to Cleo. "Say cheese."

She smiled more normally than Rikki (Rikki was never normal) and I snapped the picture, saving it to her profile.

"Perfect," I congratulated. I fell back on the bed, making a big thump. "So what now?"

"Let's go downstairs and see if we have any other snacks besides potato chips. I'm getting sick of them," Cleo said, motioning to the bag. I nodded, and we all got up to go downstairs.

Kim was there, hanging out with a red head with delicate brown eyes. They looked up when we came, and Kim groaned. "Oh, no, Cleo's here with her friends. And some other girl," she said, suspiciously looking Jenna over. Her friend just shyly shuffled her feet. "Let's go to the JuiceNet. Better than here," Kim continued, and led her conscious friend out the door.

"Hm," Jenna said. "Was that your sister?"

"Yeah," Cleo said. "If she says anything embarrassing at _all_, you'd be better off to ignore it."

"Okay," Jenna said, smiling. She had a sister too, and always complained how annoying she was. Her sister was twenty four years old and lived in another house, and you'd think by now she'd be okay, but Jenna always complained how much her sister was a pain in the ass.

Cleo looked around her cabinet, and found some junk food, which Rikki attacked, and some random cherries that were sitting in her fridge.

"Cherries!" Jenna yelled, and grabbed the bag. Quickly, she popped the cherry in her mouth, stem and all.

"You eat the stem?" I asked, bewildered, and she just smiled and shook her head.

She swallowed, and then stuck her tongue out. On it was a tied cherry stem.

"Cool," I said, laughing. How could I have thought she would eat it?

"I can do that too," Cleo proudly pronounced, and plucked the cherry off the stem. She threw the stem in her mouth, and moved it around a bit. After that, she took it out of her mouth, and a tight looking knot was in the middle of it.

"Nice," I said. "But who can do it faster?" I looked at both Cleo and Jenna, who both had competitive smiles planted on their faces. Funny, I never knew Cleo to be the competitive type.

They each took a cherry, and removed the cherry from the stem. When I cried, "Go!" they each popped the stem in their mouth and worked on it.

It turned out they both tied, pulling out their stems at exactly the same time. I pronounced them both winners, and they shook on it.

I smiled, having a good time. I was having such a great time that when Jenna picked up her water bottle then accidentally spilled it, I didn't notice until it dripped on my shirt, soaking a small portion of my stomach.

"Oh, Emma, sorry," Jenna apologized, but I was too busy rushing towards the bathroom, with Cleo and Rikki on my tail to help me dry off.

On my trip there, I tried rubbing the wet spot, wishing it to dry, but it only spread. I ran fast, and hopped into the Sertori's bathroom.

"What do we do? Jenna's coming," Cleo said, looking frantically behind her. I pushed them out of the bathroom.

"Distract her. Get her to go back to the kitchen, then when she leaves, come in and help me dry off," I said, just as I fell backwards. Cleo shut the door tight, and I sat up.

I reached up towards the door handle, wanting to lock it, but my tail was too heavy to lift high, and I could reach it. I decided it wouldn't matter; Rikki and Cleo were guarding me from Jenna.

I distracted myself from my jumbled thoughts as I listened to the conversation outside.

"Is Emma in there?" I heard a muffled Jenna voice on the other end of the thick wood door.

"Yeah," Rikki said dumbly.

"Shouldn't we go in there to see if she's okay or something?" asked Jenna.

"She just wants to be alone to dry off. Why don't you go back to the kitchen and polish up on your cherry tying skills, because I will dominate you next time," Cleo said playfully.

I almost heard the smile on Jenna's face. "Okay, you're on." I heard her turn to go, then turn back. "Tell Emma I'm sorry, okay?"

"It's okay," Cleo said, speaking for me. "It was only a little water. She probably didn't want her shirt ruined or anything."

I rolled my eyes at Cleo's stupid excuse, but thanked my lucky stars that Jenna actually leaved. About ten seconds after she left, Cleo and Rikki stumbled in.

"Is she gone?" I asked as the two took position, one at each of my sides.

"Yeah, she went to go train for the imaginary cherry knot tying competition," Rikki said, pushing a strand of her curly hair behind her ear. She stuck out her firm hand over my tail. "I'll steam dry."

Cleo slapped Rikki's hand away, and Rikki cradled it carefully with a hurt expression on her face. "We can't steam dry her inside, Rikki! Do you remember what happened last time when you tried that? The dew droplets collected on my lamp and dripped into Hector's bowl!"

"Yeah, but Hector isn't in the bathroom," Rikki said, crossing her arms. "Plus, the water I'm evaporating is normal water, not that magical weird water that made Hector float." Her hand returned to my tail, and she began to crunch it shut.

"No!" Cleo cried, pushing Rikki's hand away, but it was too late. A roll of steam floated up towards the ceiling. "Rikki! It may be normal water, but if that normal water drips back down on us, we'll pop tails."

"Oops," Rikki said, shrugging like it was no big deal. Cleo, upon seeing a few droplets about to come down, grabbed two towels. She threw one at Rikki, and covered her head with the towel so she wouldn't get wet.

The droplets fell, only a few getting Cleo and Rikki on the head, but they had the towels to protect themselves. I just covered my head with my hands, realizing it really didn't matter if I had a shield because I already had my tail.

"Is it done?" asked Cleo, not unfolding from her crouched position, holding the towel protectively over her head.

"Yeah, it's over," I said. They took the towels off their heads and onto me, rubbing my tail hard.

After a good seven or eight minutes, my tail finally disappeared and was replaced by my legs. I smiled at their return, and we all went downstairs.

Jenna was there, holding her head in her hands. Upon our arrival, she smiled and said, "Emma, I'm so sorry I spilled water on you!"

"It's not your fault," I said. "I overreacted. Can we just forget about it? Besides," I said, looking slyly to Cleo and Jenna, "I heard you two have a contest to finish?"

That launched another few contests. Sometimes Cleo turned out winner, sometimes Jenna, and sometimes they just about tied. All I remember after that was it ending in a group hug.

My phone vibrated, and I quickly excused myself from the group who were watching Rikki trying to succeed in tying a knot in a cherry stem with her mouth.

I flipped open my phone, and hit, _Open Message._ I quickly scanned the message, feeling ice in my chest as I did so.

_Cleo, Rikki and you all have a secret. The thing is, you guys are too oblivious to notice that Jenna has a secret just as big as yours. Everything is not what it seems._

_-B_

I gulped, and then glanced over at the girls, who were cheering on Rikki. I caught Jenna's eye, and she turned and smiled very friendly at me. I smiled also, very wearily. All I knew is that I could never see Jenna the same again.

**A/N: And that concludes that chapter! I hope you all liked it, and don't forget to review ps this also written by h2o4ever. Bye!**


	5. Chapter 5 i thought she was gone

_The good die young—because they see it's no use living if you've got to be good_

_-John Barrymore_

Chapter Three: I Thought She Was Gone

_-Emma POV-_

"Hey," a voice said behind me, and I recognized it to be Jenna. In alarm that it _was_ her, I choked on my water.

"What?" she said, sitting down next to me at the lunch table. She smiled at Cleo and Rikki, who were sitting across from me. The girls gave her a friendly smile and wave.

"Nothing," I mumbled. Humiliated, I twisted the cap back on the bottle and set it aside. I looked over to her, and she stared back at me. I felt my spine freeze up, locking it into a straight ice spine, not allowing me to bend or move.

Why was it so hard sitting next to Jenna? We'd be friends for about a month, so why was I so uncomfortable? I could answer the question myself, but the answer was ridiculous. Why had I been so messed up over that dumb message from B? What did she know about secrets? How would she know if Jenna had a huge secret or not? B was just a weirdo stalker, but deep down, I knew better. I knew I shouldn't mess with B, because she seemed to know everything about us.

We all ate in silence, like I was wallowing them in my uncomfortable bubble too. All that went between us was the scraping of our utensils against our lunch trays, and our chewing. Other than that, there was the hum of commotion coming from everyone else in the lunchroom, but that was about it.

I heard a cough, and I easily recognized it to be Jenna's. I just continued to stare listlessly at my tray, shuffling my fork across the surface, leaving vague scratch marks.

"Emma?" said Jenna, and I instantly froze up.

Not looking up from my tray, I murmured, "Oh, um, I don't really feel that good, sorry, excuse me." Eyes locked to the ground, I got up and shuffled to throw out my remaining food on my tray. After I did and returned the tray, I walked into the bathroom. I locked myself in a stall and pulled out my cell phone that was ever so conveniently tucked away in my jeans pocket. I unearthed the text I received from B yesterday, and racked my eyes over it a thousand times.

_Don't break down Emma,_ said a voice in my head. _Think rationally. What do you usually do when you receive a text?_ My eyes lit up, thinking now. I knew what I needed to do. What did I do? I replied to the text.

I hit reply, ready to give B a piece of my mind, asking it why it was stalking me, and what it knew about Jenna's secret. Most importantly, even if it didn't answer my questions, I'd ask who it was.

_Cannot Reply, Number Not Found_, it read. I slapped myself on my forehead, thinking about how stupid I was. Of course I couldn't reply, B had sent a text from an anonymous number, just so it wouldn't show up on my screen.

"Stupid piece of crap," I said, talking to my phone, even though I knew it wasn't the phone's fault. It was stupid old B's fault who doesn't even have the courage to text so I could see her number.

"Emma?" asked a voice, and I jumped at the sound. Clutching my hand to my heart, I unlocked the stall door and pushed myself out.

Upon seeing Cleo and Rikki, I said, "God, you guys scared me."

"Sorry," Cleo said, shrugging defensively. She motioned towards the door. "What was that by the way? Why are you so scared of Jenna all of a sudden?"

Wordlessly, I handed Cleo my cell. "Check the message from B. She sent me a text yesterday during Jenna's visit."

Looking curiously at me, Cleo snatched the phone from me. She scrolled through the texts and chose the designated one. Cleo read it in her head, but mouthed the words while Rikki got on her toes trying to see over Cleo's head behind her. When Cleo was done, she handed my phone off to the anxious Rikki, who took the phone eagerly and read the text like this was some mystery to be solved and she wanted to see the clues first.

"You don't think she's..." Cleo started as Rikki handed the phone back to me.

"A mermaid?" I asked, receiving the phone and sliding it back into my pocket. "I don't know. Have you guys ever seen her swim in public?"

"We just met her yesterday," Cleo said, shrugging. "You've known her for a while. So answer your own question."

I thought for a minute, racking my brain of my memories of Jenna. Finally, I slowly shook my head. "No, I never have."

"Great!" Rikki said. "Let's see if she is."

"How are we going to do that?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

Rikki raised her eyebrows at me, pursing her lips in a smug way like she was about to win and knew it.

Finally getting it, I put up my hands in a defense position. "Oh no, I am _not_ spilling water on her in a crowded cafeteria with everyone watching!"

"Then don't," hissed Cleo silently. "Get her in here. You distract her, and then I'll use my powers on the sink to get her wet. I'll say it was a sink malfunction or something."

I sighed. I had known Jenna for a while, and I knew she probably would _not_ like having random water sprayed over her. Also, she was my friend. Could I really do that to her? I tossed around ideas in my head until I settled on that I would do it, but only because it would find out if she was one of us.

"Alright," I said, sighing again. "I'll do it. But I won't be happy about it."

Cleo clapped her hands twice like a kindergarten teacher trying to get the attention of the children. "Then it's settled. Let's go."

I made my way back to the lunch table, where I tapped Jenna's shoulder. She turned around and raised her eyebrows, giving me a, "What happened back there?" look.

"Come on Jenna," I said, like telling a little kid to come with me. "Bathroom, now."

She sighed, rolling her eyes and getting up. She had every right to be upset with me, so I just let her, hoping she'd understand me later when this whole situation worked itself out.

"Hey guys," Jenna said, acknowledging Cleo and Rikki, who were just standing there, pretending to dry their hands as I talked to Jenna. They nodded, and then continued to dry their hands, even though they weren't even wet, obviously.

"What do you want?" Jenna said, talking to me, and gratefully having her back turned to Cleo and Rikki. They looked at each other and nodded, stealthily making their way to the sink.

"Uh," I said slowly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "I just want to apologize."

Jenna's eyes rose, looking me over to see if I was lying. "Keep talking," she said smoothly, no hint of emotion showing in her voice.

I sighed, and then paced back and forth. "Sorry I've been avoiding you lately. It's just that things are really complicated, and if you were in my position, you'd be as mixed up as I am. All I'm trying to say is," I said, taking a deep breath, "I'm sorry."

Jenna smiled, showing her delightfully pearly white teeth. "Oh, Emma, apology accepted!"

I smiled too, and at that exact moment, Cleo used her powers to snake out a water ball from the faucet, and throw it at Jenna. It hit her on her back, and she spun around from the sudden impact of the cold wetness.

"Whoa, Jenna, the sink just, like, sprayed you!" Cleo said, like she couldn't believe that the faucet was broken.

"Yeah, I know," Jenna said, feeling her back for the wet. I watched her, waiting for the running away part, but it never happened. "Do any of you guys have a paper towel or something I could use to dry my back with?"

We all slowly shook our heads, realizing now that a good twelve seconds had passed, and close to nothing had happened. I shrugged, trying to use body language to say, "Oh, well, no biggie," when it really did get on my nerves a bit. If she wasn't a mermaid, but still had a secret, what was it?

Rikki's eyes lit up like she knew what I was thinking, and had the answer. I looked at her quizzically. When Jenna looked away to go look for some paper towels, Rikki pointed at her frantically and mouthed something, but I couldn't understand. I ended up mouthing, "What?" and she gave me a, "I'll tell you later," look.

Jenna smiled, spinning around with a handful of paper towels at hand. "There we go," she said, and started drying herself.

We just watched in stunned awe as she quickly dried herself, and then trashed the damp towels. When she was done, she slowly walked out of the bathroom, with all of us watching her leave.

"What now?" Cleo asked, sighing. "If she's not a mermaid, then who is she?"

"I think I know," Rikki said, whispering. She lifted her chin and looked at me directly. "But Emma won't like it."

I raised my eyebrows. "Why?" I drew out, waiting to hear one of Rikki's wacky theories.

"I think...I think Jenna is B." Rikki said, fiddling with her phone uncomfortably, like B could hear us now and she was not happy that we were guessing.

"What?" I whispered.

"Told you you wouldn't like it," Rikki said, in the "I told you so," voice.

"That doesn't make any sense," Cleo said, siding with me. "Jenna wouldn't give away her _own_ secret. Plus, she doesn't know about Bella." Cleo turned to me. "She doesn't know about Bella, right?"

Stunned, I turned to them. "She knows about Bella," I breathed. "I told her."

"Then she's B!" blurted Rikki.

"That still doesn't make sense. I told her _after_ some of B's messages came. I told her on the walk to Cleo's house to meet you guys. If Jenna was B, she'd have to know before I told her." I shrugged. "It's too early to make guesses anyway. The mystery is too blurry."

"At least we've knocked one person off our list," Cleo added, smiling hopefully, but by the look on Rikki's face, I wasn't entirely sure she agreed.

OoOoO

_-Cleo POV-_

Somehow, this seemed like an old routine that was used too many times.

I've experienced this before, the shouting, the pathetic and childish name calling, and the same chill when I realized that they didn't want me to hear this, but I was hearing it anyway. I had grown so accustomed of saying happily good-bye to it, but here I was now, my ear pressed up to the front door, listening to the dispute of my divorced parents over the phone.

I gently laid my backpack onto the cement front stoop, putting it in the shade of the jutting roof and away from the harsh rays of the sun. I was careful not to jostle myself—it might interrupt a word or two of their conversation.

"No, not for a year!" bellowed my dad, and I heard a slam. Maybe it was his fist against a wood table, or a wall, but whatever it was, it didn't sound like he was happy.

The only reason I knew that on the other end of the line was my mother—who had moved western Australia after the divorce—was because of all the yelling. My dad typically was a calm and well-mannered guy. The only time I heard him yell like this was just before the divorce. The only person that made him upset was my mother, and I could pretty much infer the rest.

"Are we talking about Cleo or Kim here?" he asked, and my blood froze at the sound of my name. "Both?" he said, astonished and disgusted. "No way! I'm sorry Bev, but that cannot happen."

Well, and there was also the fact that my dad just said my mom's name. Oh, why had I gone home early? After school, Emma, Rikki and I all went for a swim to Mako. I left before the two, insisting that I should probably get home before my dad would wonder where I was. Maybe I could have at least stayed an extra ten minutes to avoid hearing this phone call.

"I don't care what you think, no means no!" My father yelled, and it was all I could do not to break down in hysterics right then. Hadn't my parents settled their disputes? Weren't they done arguing? I wondered how Sam thought about this. I cautiously glanced to the driveway. Sam was still at work. I knew that Sam was really laid back and relaxed, but I even thought she would not be cool with this bickering, especially between her husband and her husband's ex wife.

I took a few deep calming breaths to slow my thinking down. After I thought I was totally mellow, I took a step inside my house.

It was eerily quiet inside the house. My dad looked up at me, and then looked at the phone in his hand. Without saying a word of good-bye, he pressed the end button. Then he beamed at me proudly, like my arrival just made his whole day. "Hey, Cleo, where've you been?"

"Who was that?" I asked, and when he wore a mask of confusion on his face, I gestured towards the phone.

He shook his head. "No one important. Just some guy trying to sell car insurance."

"Don't lie to me," I said, trying to breath even between my teeth.

My dad sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "That was your mom, Cleo."

I guessed that much. "And what did she want?"

"She said she missed you guys very much, and wanted to see you guys. Soon," he added the last word like it tasted bad.

"Like, she'd come here and sleep here?" After seeing the expression of his face, I quickly said, "Or at a hotel?"

"No, not exactly," he said slowly. "More like you and Kim go to see her?"

The thought of a trip to see my mother kind of thrilled me. "For how long, like a week or two weeks?" I began to get pretty excited at the thought. How did I think this was bad?

"Longer than a week," he said, exasperated. "More like a year, if not more."

I just gaped at him, the words flying through the air, but not being processed through my cluttered head. "A...year? She can't do that, can she?"

"If she gets the right papers, of course she can," my dad said, sighing. Now I got what he was getting worked up over, and I didn't really blame him. "She's even thinking of getting you guys to move in with her."

I looked at the ceiling, hoping that the tears threatening to fall would fall back into my eyes, and be saved for another time I really _did_ want to cry. "I don't want to leave for a year," I whispered, thinking of Mako Island, Emma and Rikki, Lewis, and my dad. "I can't."

"I know. I'll get this all sorted out, you'll see," dad said, putting a hand on my shoulder, causing me to look down at him.

I took a deep breath to control myself. "Okay, I believe you. I'm going to go on a walk, okay?" I gave him a face that said, "I look sad, but if you protest, I'll bite your head off."

He nodded, motioning to the door. I gratefully smiled, and dropped my backpack onto a chair sitting by the dining room table. I quickly exited using the back door.

As soon as I got out and got out of sight, I began to run. I didn't know where, but I knew why. I just wanted to leave, to get _out of there._

I plunged into a small nearby forest, pushing aside the roots and weeds tangling around my feet and scratching my hands. I watched as I pushed aside a long tendril and it swung back, hitting a mossy tree. I looked up to see only dots of light coming down—the rest was blocked by the thick mass of greenery in the way.

I continued, not slowing my speed even when a tree stump made me stumble clumsily to the ground. I just got up, brushed my hands together ignoring the blood seeping down from the tiny wounds now developed, and kept going.

I felt my phone buzz a couple times—probably dad—but I ignored it. Soon, I came across a decent looking stump, and sat down, crossing my legs. I then buried my face into my hands, not crying, but silent, taking in the nature. I didn't feel like crying.

After a while of just hearing bird chirping and twigs snapping from small animals (I hoped) and I checked my messages. Sure enough, one was from dad asking when I'd be home. I didn't bother to answer, hoping he'd get the idea that I wanted to be alone.

The second was from Emma, just wanting to text for the fun of it. Well, I wasn't in the mood, so I just ignored that also. I put the phone back in my pocket, and just sat there.

I felt the cooler air on my arms, and made a mental note to come back here often. It was a good resting spot on a hot day, and definitely if you wanted to be alone. No one was here to bother you or ask you for anything. It was so quiet and peaceful.

Feeling confident, I switched off my phone, deciding to cut everyone off but me entirely. _There_, I thought, replacing my phone back in my pocket. _Just me entirely now. No one bugging me._

I breathed in the nice pine scent of the forest, and observed the clearing I was in. It seemed that the tree stump was in the middle of a big patch of dirt ground, decorated by pine needles scattered on the ground, and reddish from dying. There was a small creek to my left, weaved in between some trees. It didn't look deep at all, but the soothing trickling sound of it was comforting.

To my right was a patch of tall trees, to my guess over a hundred years old, because it was very thick. The only way to determine it was to saw it in half and count the circles, which couldn't be done because the tree was just too pretty.

I sat there, fingering a thin loose strand of thread on my jacket. A tree off to the right caught my eye, and I looked at it. It was wilted, looking like it was in desperate need of a drink. Smiling, I activated my powers and moved a stream of water to the tree, and watered it thoroughly.

Even though I was enjoying the nature, I began to grow bored of the familiar sights and smells. I got up off the tree stump, brushed off the excess dirt clinging to my denim shorts, and started my hike back.

I followed the trail that I had taken on the way there, making sure to look around to see sightings I saw on the way here, just to make sure I didn't get lost. Soon, I came to a fork in the trail.

I glanced desperately at the path, and studied the one trail that branched into two. _Now where did I come from?_ I ended up asking myself as I looked puzzled at the split trail. I ended up using the dumb "eeine meenie minee moe," ended up landing on the left trail. So I just sighed, shrugging my shoulders, and took the trail.

I hiked up small mounds and through prickly branches that I was certain wasn't there when I arrived here. As the growth grew denser, I realized that it was definite: I hadn't been here. I was lost.

I quickly realized that the problem could be settled: I'd simply walk back and take the other trail, because if the one I was on then wasn't it, the other had to be. So I started walking the other way.

It wasn't long before I hit another fault: the trail that I was currently walking on—the wrong one—branched into two trails behind me that went unnoticed. I guess while I was walking I didn't realize another trail snaked into the one I was walking on. So which one did I come from?

Frustrated, I turned on my phone. I had a few more missed calls from dad, and one text from Kim, who told me to hurry up, we were going out to eat, and dad was waiting on me. She also added that she was starving. Furrowing my brow, I snapped the phone shut. Damn her. I could make it out of here without any help. I'd show her.

I randomly chose a path (remembering that the method I used before failed) and walked through it. I saw some familiar sights, and smiled to myself. _See? I don't need anyone's help_, I thought smugly as I continued. I pushed through weeds and tangles of vines, the journey to the end becoming endless and I was becoming restless. Soon, I ran.

I pushed through the undergrowth, sick and tired of this. I laid a hand on a moss-covered tree as I sprinted by, and brushed off the excess dirt given off from it. I looked up and saw sunlight dancing through the leaves, mocking me that they were on the outside and I was trapped in.

_Slam!_ I hit the ground with a sickening thud as I fell hard. I laid there, fallen, and the tears began to fall as well. I wiped under my eyes, and then looked at my hands. In embarrassment, I realized they were caked with mud. I must have left a streak of mud on my cheek. I wiped it with the back of my hand, and sure enough, there was dirt on it that was under my eye.

I twitched a little, and my ankle burned with pain. I realized it could be sprained, maybe broken. I twisted it badly. But what had I fallen on? Probably an uprooted root, waiting for someone as clumsy as me to trip on it. Slowly, I turned over on my back, and my ankle hurt like hell. I then stared at the thing that tripped me.

No. Oh my God, no no no no. No, this _cannot_ be happening. I'm dreaming. That trip made me fall unconscious. Or I'm dead. Sure, it was a little strange, dying from a fall, but whatever. Anything to explain this. This couldn't be happening.

Lying on my back, and propping myself up on my elbows, I leaned my head back to the heavens. "Help!" I cried desperately, tears running down my face. "Oh my God, please help!" I sobbed, and eventually looked back at the thing that tripped me. I nearly had another heart attack just looking at it.

Then I realized I had my phone. As strongly as I could, I kicked myself away from it and pulled my phone out of my pocket. My ankle was twisted at a weird angle, and it was going numb. It scared me more than it probably would have if it hurt.

I dialed the first thing that popped into my mind, and held the phone impatiently to my ear. As soon as the person picked up, I wiped more tears away and said, sniffling, "Hello, yes. I need two things. One, I need an ambulance. I was hiking in the woods, and fell over...something. I twisted my ankle pretty badly."

"Is there anything you can tell us to give us a more specific location as to where you are in the woods?" the voice asked.

"I think I'm on the edge of the woods. It's near my house, in the back." I quickly gave her my address.

"We can search the woods for you. Just yell every once and a while and they will find you," the woman said.

"Ok," I said. "Second. I need an ambulance and a police car, though the ambulance won't help much. I just need it."

"We are already sending an ambulance for you," informed the impatient lady.

"I know, I know. That one isn't for me." I glanced at the thing I tripped on, and started crying a bit, as I quickly explained what I needed it for.

_-Emma POV-_

The fresh breeze whipped through my hair as I walked down to Cleo's house with Rikki. We were both incredibly bored, so we both decided to walk up to Cleo's house, even though recently we were just swimming with her.

"Oh my God," Rikki said, tapping me so I'd look up. "There are ambulances and policemen around Cleo's house."

I looked up, astonished, and saw that this wasn't one of Rikki's jokes—she was serious. Two ambulances and a cop car surrounded the Sertori household.

Don stood on the front stoop, talking to one of the policemen. He was holding Kim close to him, who looked pretty shaken up, holding on to Don for her dear life.

We approached Don, and he looked over at us. He smiled wearily, and ran a hand through his hair. "Girls, hello. Don't mind all this, something has just happened."

"Where's Cleo?" I asked in a stern voice.

"Ambulance," Don said darkly, and my heart stopped. What was wrong with Cleo?

Rikki and I raced over to the ambulance and found Cleo sitting in the back of one of the ambulances. She was talking to one of the paramedics as they were looking over her ankle. An Ace Bandage was wrapped around her ankle for some reason.

"Cleo," Rikki said as we ran up to her. She looked up at us with cold, gray eyes, and her tears fell.

"Oh, Cleo, what happened?" I said, and as I tried to get closer, the paramedics kept blocking the way. I just resulted in keeping my distance.

"Will you guys come to the hospital with me?" Cleo asked softly, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear shyly.

"Of course. But what is this all about?" Rikki said, crossing her arms.

Cleo opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. She was given the will to speak, and said, "I...was upset, so I hiked. In the forest." She gestured to the back of her house, and continued. "I tripped, and twisted my ankle. I...saw what I tripped over, and I called the ambulance."

"Did you trip over a root or something?" Rikki asked.

"Worse," she said, and her eyes closed dramatically. "I tripped over...Bella."

OoOoO

"The doctor said that I broke my ankle, and I have to walk around with a cast for a few weeks." Cleo shifted uncomfortably in the hospital bed, and then said, "Did you call Lewis?"

"He's on his way," I said, glancing at my phone. "Do you think they...put Bella in a room?"

"What's the point?" Rikki said. "She's dead."

The words sent a chill down my spine, and I closed my eyes, taking in a sharp, frozen breath. I slowly opened up my long lashed eyes, and saw Cleo uncomfortably picking at the white hospital sheets, her head hung low and her eyes locked down. I could see she was trying to hide the tears from us, but I still saw them.

I hit Rikki in the arm, and she rubbed her sore arm, mouthing to me, "What?" I gestured to Cleo with a stern look on my face and mouthed back, "Fix that!"

She sighed, and then openly said, "Well, I mean, maybe. But there's still hope, right?" Rikki smiled, showing obvious fake enthusiasm and hope.

Cleo looked up, and we both got a good long glimpse of her reddened eyes. "Please. She's been in the forest for a whole year now. You're right. She's...dead." Cleo leaned back in her bed, and closed her saddened eyes. "I'm going to take a nap," she said, eyes still closed.

"We'll be here," I said, and took a seat in the uncomfortably firm plush chair sitting in a corner, and Rikki took the other. We watched as Cleo fell asleep, her breathing becoming slowed. When she was asleep, Rikki and I silently talked.

_-Rikki POV-_

"What happened to Bella?" Emma whispered asked to me as I fiddled with my fingers.

I shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. They didn't tell me anything."

"Me either," Emma said, crossing her arms. "I guess we will find out later."

"Later?" I asked, turning to look at her square in the eye. "I can't wait another second, and you want me to wait until _later_?"

At that moment, the door flung open and Lewis came in, a worried expression on his face. His eyes laid on Cleo, asleep in the bed, and he said, "Oh, no, I'm too late! Cleo's already dead!" Lewis walked over to Cleo's side and took her hand. "Breath, Cleo. Can you hear me?"

"Lewis," Emma said, irritated. "Leave her alone. She sprained her ankle; she didn't fall off a cliff. She's sleeping, leave her be."

"Oh, good," Lewis said, getting up and wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "Phew. I thought at first she was dead. Thanks for telling me otherwise."

I rolled my eyes, and turned to Emma. "I would've just slapped him."

"You wouldn't have," Lewis said with mocking eyes, smiling like a cat.

I raised my eyebrows at his doubt. "You want to bet?" I picked up my hand in a readied position.

He held up his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay, I believe you." Lewis sat down on a chair besides me and started reading a magazine that was laid on a shelf next to Cleo's bed.

I got up, rubbing my hands together. "Well, I'm starving. I barley had anything for lunch, because they were serving sloppy joes. Do you know how disgusting the school's sloppy joes are?"

Emma nodded. "Very. But you go ahead, I'm fine." Lewis nodded in agreement.

I shrugged. "Suit yourself," I said, and walked out of the hospital room.

While going down the white hall and dodging the hurrying workers, I dug around in my pocket for some cash. I eventually came up with twenty-one dollars and eighty two cents, including the nickel I found on the floor.

I rounded the corner and shuffled my way to the elevator. I pressed the down button with my pointer finger, and waited as the elevator took its sweet time coming to get me.  
When the elevator arrived, I stepped in to find a woman waiting in there. I jammed my thumb into the floor I wanted to go to, and off it went.

The woman had black hair that was messy on her shoulders, and was clutching a small purse. She seemed pretty friendly, because she turned to me and said, "Hola," with a smile.

I put on a weary smile. I barley knew Spanish, only getting by with a C minus, but at least I knew what "hola" meant. Acknowledging her greeting, I said, "Hola."

"Qué hora es?" she asked.

"Uh," I stuttered, trying to get my mind thinking. What was she asking? Hora...time! That was right, she was asking for the time!

I pushed up my sleeve and read the time in Spanish to her, hoping I didn't trip up. "Son las cautro y diez." I hoped I told her correctly that it was 4:10.

She smiled, nodding in approval. "Gracias."

I smiled back; glad I could help, but even gladder that I knew enough Spanish to just pass by. "De nada."

The creaky elevator dinged, and the door opened. I took a quick glance at it, and saw that it wasn't my floor, so it must have been the lady's. She gave me a nod, and stepped off.

After the doors closed, they descended a few floors, and finally got to my designated floor. I stepped off, and took in the hushed buzz of people around me, and directed myself to the cafeteria with the signs all around me.

I arrived at the cafeteria and started to pick out things I wanted to buy. I eventually settled on a burrito with a bag of chips and a freshly cold water bottle.

Once I had paid (without using all of my money) I sat down and began to eat the burrito. I savored the great burst of flavor in my mouth, and generously chewed. After and eventful day like today, I was glad to have rewarded myself with this.

I was done with my chips and three quarters of the way done with my burrito when I began to feel full. I reached over to grab my water bottle to take a swig of water to quench my thirst, but ended up knocking my water bottle all over my lap instead.

"Great," I muttered, getting up as quick as I could. I looked around for someplace, and found a bathroom on the right side of the cafeteria. I ran full speed towards it, and pushed myself inside. I saw that it was a one person bathroom, and smiled to myself. Perfect.

Not long after, I fell to the floor on my stomach. I turned myself over and surveyed my tail with an annoyed expression on my face. I flipped myself over and was about to speed dry myself, but then realized I couldn't. I remembered before, when Emma was a mermaid in the bathroom and the vapor collected on the ceiling, then rained down on us. I guess I learned from that, but how could I dry my tail now?

I just sighed, and waited on the floor for my tail to dry. After about ten minutes, when I was getting exasperated and believed that someone had probably stolen my burrito by now, I heard a knock on the door.

"Is anyone in there?" I heard. I propped myself up on my elbows, and was about to answer that it was occupied, but the door creaked open and revealed a figure standing in the doorway.

I closed my eyes in defeat. Great, someone had seen me. I heard the door swing close, and opened my one eye. I couldn't believe who was standing there.

She was wearing a purple shirt and jeans; a plain outfit. She had on gold flip-flips and her hair was tousled on her shoulders.

"Charlotte?" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry Rikki," Charlotte mumbled, but she couldn't take her eyes off my tail. "I'll uh, leave now." She turned to go.

I shut my eyes tightly, and then through my gritted teeth, I said, "_Wait._"

She turned around, a weird expression planted on her face. "Uh...yeah?"

"Could you, um...help me?" I asked, motioning to my tail, a hopeful expression on my face.

She sighed, smiling as if she broke me down. She kneeled down besides me and pulled out a small, green and dry washcloth.

I looked at her curiously. She looked at the washcloth and laughed. "Yeah, I know, pretty random and convenient." She began rubbing the washcloth on my tail to dry me, and I winced at the weird contact—something I had never experienced before. "I started carrying this around when I was a mermaid just in case I got wet. It kind of backfired when I realized it wouldn't help—it disappeared with my clothes." Charlotte laughed and tucked a piece of her red hair behind her ear. "Ever since I lost my powers, I was just so used to carrying it around that I didn't bother to stop, even though I knew I wouldn't need it." She sighed. "That thought hurt. But I guess I need it now."

I nodded throughout her speech, half listening, and half just keeping an eye on her to see if she did anything funny to my tail. But she didn't do much but dry me—after a while, my tail disappeared in a flurry of bubbles and my legs appeared.

"Done," Charlotte said, nodding in approval. She stood up, and extended her hand out to me to help me up. I eyed it with suspicion. What if she purposely got her hand wet when drying my tail, and when I grab her hand, I grow a tail all over again? Then she'd just run off, laughing and leaving me stranded. I didn't take her hand, not taking any chances.

Charlotte said, pulling back her hand. "Rikki, I'm going to tell you exactly what I told the girls. I don't want you to think of me as a threat, just a friend." I looked at her, making a, "You've got to be kidding me," face, and she sighed once more. "Okay, not a friend, but someone who you can rely on. Like now. If you ever need help, just look me up. Please."

I pursed my lips, and said, "Maybe, Charlotte. We'll see." I then took her newly outstretched hand and hoisted myself up. We exited the bathroom to find a line of angry people waiting for us. We apologized as we raced by. I eyed my food on my table—it was still there—and just left it. It didn't matter.

"So..." I said, making small talk with Charlotte, seeing that she was following me. "Why are you here?"

"My grandpa had a heart attack," Charlotte said sadly.

"I'm sorry...wait, your _grandpa_?" I said in awe.

"Yeah," Charlotte said. "Why?"

"Gracie's husband?" I asked, rubbing my hands together to create heat to my numb and cold hands.

"Yeah," Charlotte said. "She married a guy named Ted. I know she didn't love Ted as much as Max, but she did love Ted." Charlotte nodded, like trying to convince herself instead of me. She shook her head. "Why are _you_ here?"

"Cleo sprained her ankle. Nothing major, but she wanted us to be here."

"Us?" Charlotte asked.

"Emma too," I informed her. I stopped by the elevator. "Well, this is my stop. I'd better go."

"Right," Charlotte said. She held up her hand in a half wave, and then started to walk away.

"Wait," I called down to her, and she spun around, eyebrows arched in curiosity. "Um, thanks for what you did. You really saved me there."

Charlotte smiled, and then replied, "Any time." With that, she turned and walked away.

When I arrived at Cleo's room, she had a walking cast wrapped around her foot and was being helped out of bed. Lewis and Don shared a side of the room, and Emma was on the other side, watching, amused, as Cleo began to wobble around, trying her walking cast.

"Hey Rikki," Cleo said, spotting me and giving a wave. She lost concentration and balance and tripped forward, catching herself mid-air. "Whoops."

I joined Emma as Cleo teetered around, finally getting the hang of lugging around a cast on her leg. She placed herself in front of Emma and I, and slumped, sighing. "This sucks."

"There is one highlight," I said, earning a few curious glances.

"What?" Cleo said, joyous to hear some good news about this.

"You get excused from gym," I said, smiling, and she laughed.

"Cleo, they said we could check out now," Don informed us, and Cleo nodded. We stayed by Cleo as she directed herself through the door, determined not to have any help. Whenever we'd ask, she say, "No, I have it, it's easy."

Once Don checked out, we led Cleo to the elevator (earning another bark of request from Cleo to stop helping her) and rode it down to the first floor. When we got there, we began our journey to the car.

I leaned over and whispered in Emma's ear, "Charlotte is here."

"Charlotte?" murmured Emma, looking surprised. "Why? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing," I said. "It's Gracie's husband."

"Gracie married?" Emma asked in shock, and I nodded with a sorrowed look on my face.

"What are you guys talking about?" I heard, and I turned to see Cleo looking back at us, and starting to join us. I began to explain that Charlotte was here at the hospital to Cleo too.

We were led to the Sertori's house, where Don would give Emma and me a lift home. We hopped into the car, and waited for Don to get in and start the car.

We waited, but he never followed us into the car. I opened the door and leaped out to see what was keeping him, and saw him talking to an official looking man talking to him. When I hopped out, he turned to me and looked at me with his beady, watery eyes. With his finger, he motioned towards me.

I approached the two uncertainly. "Yes?" I asked politely.

"Can you get your two friends? Emma and Cleo?" he asked, his hand in his pocket.

"Su—sure," I said unsteadily. I backed up and called Cleo and Emma to join me.

Once we were all huddled around the man, he spoke in a loud voice, which I thought was odd for such a short fellow. "I would just like to announce to Isabel's friends that we will be investigating this case."

"Right," I said. "To see what happened when she was in the forest? Did she just get choked by a vine or something?" When I saw the girl's quick and irritated glances, I said, "Hey, you never know."

"No," he said shortly. "We are now putting this in our files as a _murder_ investigation."

"Murder?" Cleo said, her broken foot wobbling a bit. We all glanced at each other, and looked away quickly. But it didn't matter how fast we looked away, for I saw their eyes: the eyes that held secrets and lies yet to be uncovered, and sure enough, they saw it in my eyes too.

**A/N: I need to know if you guys liked it! Please review! (Also from h2o4ever) bye!**


	6. Chapter 6 secrets and lies

A/N: h2o4ever also wrote this chapter and I will be writing the chapters starting chapter 13 bye!

_The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible_

_-Oscar Wilde_

**Chapter Four: Secrets and Lies**

**_-Emma POV-_**

"I'm not going." My words were pale and lifeless, but yet had so much meaning impacted into them that it almost didn't make sense.

"What do you mean? Mr. And Mrs. Hartley invited us _all_ to Bella's...erm...funeral." Rikki spat out the last word uncomfortably.

"If they invited me, they obviously don't know the whole story of what happened that night," I replied, falling back onto my comfy bed to stare at the ceiling aimlessly.

"Of course they don't. _We_ don't," Rikki countered, shooting her answer back at me like a snake striking.

I sighed. "I know, I know, it's just that I wouldn't be comfortable there. It's my fault Bella's gone, and I'm sure Bella would want her funeral to be without me." I played with a string poking out of my comforter, wrapping it around my finger until the tip turned purple.

"Don't be silly. Please come Emma, it just wouldn't be the same without you. I bet there'll be tons of her parent's friends at the funeral that she didn't even know!" Rikki said.

I sat up; releasing the string and having my finger turn slowly back to its original color. "Yeah, but she _knew_ me. She _hated_ me for the matter. I just don't think it would be right."

"Please," Rikki said. "Come _on_. Come for Cleo and me, not for Bella."

"But it's _her_ funeral," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're coming for _us_," she countered.

Angrily, I spat, "Rikki, if you want me to come to a funeral for you, why don't I just come to yours?" I then hung up. Didn't she realize that Bella was not my friend, so she probably would want nothing to do with me?

After a minute of calming down, I suddenly realized what I had said and how bad it sounded. It sounded more like a death threat to me. I picked up my phone and dialed Rikki's number.

**_-Rikki POV-_**

_Emma calling,_ my caller ID read. I just let my phone sit there, vibrating, until I got so fed up I pressed "Ignore." I hoped during the year Emma and I weren't friends she didn't forget my personality. No one threatened Rikki Chadwick and got away with it.

I went over to my calendar and circled in red Sharpie the following Monday (today was Friday) and then the Wednesday of that week. I then picked up a black Sharpie and wrote, "Dress rehearsals." I smiled boldly.

I then picked up all my Sharpies—excluding the black one, only the colorful ones—and decorated Friday. I circled the date with purple stars, put big, bold arrows pointing to the date in neon Sharpie and put a few drawn confetti streamers around it. In the very middle, I wrote "Final play!" and highlighted it. I grinned and slapped down my Sharpies. The big day would be especially fun because Zane would dread every second of it. But it would be even greater because everyone would be there, and I would shine! Speaking of, I needed to remember to invite Cleo and maybe Emma.

A smile crept on my face as I remembered one more person I definitely needed to invite. I went across the hall and found my dad working at a desk.

"Hey, dad?" I said nonchalantly. "There's something I need to ask you."

He put down his pen and swiveled his chair around to face me. "Sure sweetheart, what is it?"

I took a deep breath, and said, "Well on Friday, we're having this play, you know how I was picked for the lead? Well, I was wondering...maybe...if you'd like to come?" I smiled sweetly.

He ran his fingers through his short hair and sighed. "I don't know sweetheart, I have a lot of paperwork that needs to be taken care of, and..."

"I get it," I rudely interrupted. I bit my lip, and said, "But if you'd like to come..." I lifted up his hand and slid under it a paper ticket—one of the four I get free for being in the play. "...You can always come." I smiled.

"We'll see," is all he said, turning back to his paperwork. But I saw him grip the ticket tighter and smile a little bit.

I skipped over to a wooden chair happily and slung my backpack over my shoulder, just about ready to head to school. I waved my dad off, telling him bye, and skidded out the door.

Along the way, I picked up Cleo, who thumped loudly out the door and followed me to school. We also acquired Emma into our walking group, of who I ignored half of the way there until the thumping of Cleo's cast and the birds chirping mixed in with the silence of the morning got a little irritatingly uncomfortable, and she begged for my forgiveness, and chimed in that what she said on the phone was not meant the way it was said.

"Well," I said slowly, "I was being kind of irritating. It's your choice to go to Bella's funeral. I forgive you. Do you forgive me?" I asked.

She smiled, flipping her blonde hair behind her shoulder with a single toss. "What's there to forgive?"

"On that happy note," I said, and spun around so that I was walking backwards, facing Emma and Cleo, I said, "Here." I handed each of the girls a paper ticket.

"The play?" Emma said, looking up and smiling. I nodded.

"It wouldn't be the same without you guys there. If you're busy, though, I totally understand. It's on Friday," I said.

"Of course we'd like to come," Cleo said, sticking the ticket in her pocket. "How'd you get the tickets? Don't they cost money to fund for the school?"

"Being in the play, I get four free tickets," I explained. I clasped my hands together and did a cheering motion.

"Where are the other two going?" Emma asked.

"I gave one to my dad, and I guess I'm going to slip the other to Lewis," I said. "If he'd like to come."

"Speaking of," Cleo said, and out popped Lewis from his house, and ran down to meet us. He waved to Emma and me, and kissed Cleo.

I groaned, rolling my eyes, but handed him a ticket anyway. He looked at it peculiarly. "What's this?" he asked.

"A ticket to the play. I'm in it, and so is Zane. If you don't feel like watching me, you can laugh at Zane. That's what I'm going to do backstage," I said, smiling, and led the group all the way to school.

Once we set foot on school grounds, our small group was devoured by people wanting to know what happened to Cleo's foot and waving around Sharpies, trying to sign the cast. Before we split off into individuals to go to our first period classes, Cleo was looking worn out and her cast held a slew of messy signatures and cute rhymes wishing her well.

I headed to my class—Chemistry—and bumped into somebody I'd never in a million years expect to see.

"Hey Rikki," he said with a smile, obviously overwhelmed with happiness to see me. "What's up?"

"Will," I said breathlessly, trying to register this into my head. Will was here. Well, of course. He went to this school, but I hadn't seen him around these parts for the short month that school had been in session from summer. "You go here now?"

"I never stopped," Will confessed. "It's just that I took some time off to dive more—I've started more and more diving, I just can't seem to get away from it—and to get over the whole...Bella thing. But I finally thought to myself, 'Will, not going to school and poorly home schooling yourself won't help. Nothing is going to change with Bella, so I decided to accept that." He shrugged and smiled. "But I'm back."

"Great," I said with a forced smile. It wasn't that I wasn't happy to see Will, it was just he reminded me too much of Bella, and plus, he was the one that led to some heat between Zane and me when we were broken up. But, that was part of the reason we got back together in the summer—because we realized Zane's jealousy was because we loathed and missed each other dearly. It was movie romance sappy, but hey, you can't mess with fate.

"So," he started. "What's been going on with you guys lately?" He took off his backpack and slung it over the opposite shoulder.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. I began to register what he said, and then was immediately embarrassed. What an easy question! I guess I was just too muddled in my own thoughts to think about Will's question.

"Like, any news, mermaid or otherwise." He stood pretty firm to the spot, waiting for an answer.

"Right," I said. "Nothing much, just...coping with...recent developments." I laughed it off like it was nothing and it was the biggest joke ever.

"Okay," Will drawled slowly. "So, do you want to swing by the boathouse after school maybe? It'll give us time to catch up." He must have noticed my panicked expression, and added quickly, "That is, if you want to."

"No, no, I'd love to," I assured, "I just don't think it would be a good idea. You know," I lowered my voice to a whisper, "With Zane."

He raised his eyebrows. "Still as overprotective as ever?"

"Yes," I lied slowly. Truth be told, Zane didn't give a crap to what I did. Of course, it would probably give him a shock to learn that Will was back and invited me to his boatshed, but trust me and know that I was loyal to our relationship. We have been broken up two times—it was turning out to be one of those on again off again things—and I didn't want to shoot for a third, so I just wanted to be extra careful.

Will looked sad, and turned to go, but I quickly poked in, "But I think Cleo is free!" I almost slapped my hand across my mouth and hit myself in the head with my free hand. Why did I just say that? I panicked!

He smiled again, and said, "Hey, cool. I'll ask. Thanks Rikki. You're a good friend." It seemed for a split second that he wanted to lean in and kiss me right then, but he turned and walked away in the opposite direction. I shook my head. I was imagining things. He knew that I was dating Zane (right?) and besides, he wasn't over Bella just yet. He needed time.

But what would happen after that time was over, and he was ready to date again? Would he choose me? Oh God, I hoped not...

Just then, my phone beeped. I pulled it out of my pocket, and clicked a button to read the text message I had just received. It said:

_Stealing boyfriends? I should have expected it. You were always the type._

_-B_

Huh? I was the _type_? That was absurd! I swiveled my head around to the chatting teenagers taking up the hallways—all not paying attention to me. Who had sent that text?

Suddenly, my mind flashed back about two years from now, back to a time when things were much difficult, and I had not yet found myself.

_A cool breeze swept through the park as I rubbed my face continuously, trying to wipe away the tears that were running down my face. No doubt that my face was red from crying, and that I looked like a sad teenage girl with nowhere to go just sitting on a park bench in front of a small lake. I shivered, and went to pull my jacket tighter, as I realized I hadn't brought a jacket. I hadn't thought I would need it when I left my house in a hurry—trying to get out of the horror._

_The Gold Coast was fine enough, and for the twenty minutes I had been here it was very pretty and extravagant. I liked it instantly, but then it struck me: the house. It was a trailer. I had never lived in a trailer, only small houses. That was fine to me, just a little unsettling, then I realized another thing: I had to make all new friends. I _was_ in a new part of the country, anyway. And I couldn't do it with the comfort of my mother. But she was long gone, and it upset my father for me to bring it up, so I don't anymore. No more._

"_Hey, are you okay?" I looked up to see a guy about my age towering over me. He was tall and tan and—I'll admit it—pretty good-looking. I watched his sparkling blue eyes and caramel hair as he jumped into the seat next to me._

_I averted my eyes away from his face and to the lake. "No, not really. I just moved here, and I don't know anyone or anything, and to top it all off my dad is pretty broke." I picked up a stray flat stone off to the side and chucked it into the lake—it skipped two times._

"_That sucks," he said apologetically. He looked at the ripples in the lake as to where my stone landed in the water, and then added, "But you know what sucks more?"_

"_What?" I said. There was probably nothing worse than this._

"_Your throw," he said with a smirk. He grabbed a stone and threw it across the water—four skips._

"_Wow," I said, impressed. "How did you do that?" I picked up another rock._

"_Like this." He wrapped his hand around my wrist and my arm, and gently guided me. When I threw the rock, it skipped five times._

"_Better than mine!" he said, and I smiled, glad I could impress him for a change. For once, my spirits lifted for a change. I then realized that his hands were still wrapped around my arms. I would have cleared my throat and motion to let go, but in truth, I was enjoying it._

_I looked at him, and saw that he was looking down on me, waiting. I smiled, a signal, and he leaned into me._

_Our lips touched, and we kissed. If I was going to live in The Gold Coast, at least I could do it with a good-looking boyfriend._

_When we separated, we were both grinning wildly, and I just closed my eyes and leaned back against the bench. I felt ten times better._

"_Josh?" someone called out, and my eyes wretched open. I spun around and saw a girl with black hair pulled into a ponytail and green eyes with pale skin looking horrifically at us, but mostly at "Josh."_

"_How could you?" she whispered._

"_Uh, Christine, I can explain, she came onto me..." he started, but trailed off._

"I _came onto _you_?" I said, totally exasperated and awed._

"_Who are you?" she asked me bluntly, crossing her arms at me._

"_Who are _you_?" I shot back, just as blunt and cocky as her._

"_Who am I? Who am _I_? I'll tell you, bitch, I'm his girlfriend." She looked at me, her eyes narrowed. She turned to Josh, and said, "And I can tell you who _he_ is. A lousy lying bitch is what he is. _And_ now he's girlfriend-less." She turned back to me, and said, "Unless you two are going out now." With a sneer, she turned away._

"I_ came onto _you_?" I said, and scoffed. "Try the other way around."_

"_Please, don't try to weasel your way out of it. Because of you, I got dumped." He sent a dirty look my way, and left me sitting alone._

_I wrapped my arms around my knees, now more depressed than ever. I had barley been in The Gold Coast for half an hour, and I had two enemies: a girl who now just hated me to the core and a sly backstabber that blames people for things they don't do. And to think, I kissed him! Before even learning his name! What was wrong with me?_

I shivered at the thought. That was a time when things were much more complicated, I did things I regret, and I hadn't met Cleo and Emma yet. But those times were over.

**_-Emma POV-_**

"I thought you were done avoiding me," Jenna said, exasperated.

"I am," I promised, sweeping my glance up and down the hallway to see anybody. There was just the normal amount of people talking to their friends before we (the seniors) went to lunch.

"Yeah but..." she trailed off, and I continued searching down the hallways, in search of one of the girls to rescue me from Jenna. "Emma?" she urged, but I continued not listening to her.

"Emma, talk to my face!" she boomed, and grabbed my arm. She spun me around to face her, and I saw rage written all over her face.

"Hey!" I said, because when she spun me around, it hurt. I mean, it _really_ hurt. Wait a second...

I looked down at my arm, and saw that the part where she grabbed me was a bright and red. I touched it, only to jerk my hand back in agony. It burned! The burning was spreading up my arm, suffocating any other feeling other than the fire.

"Ow!" I said, and turned to look at her. "It burns! What did you do?" Man, it hurt badly...

Jenna looked guiltily at the palms of her hands, which were now the same shade of crimson as my arm. I nestled my arm, carefully not trying to touch it, and watched as the red began to fade quickly, the fire getting put out.

I looked up at her, and saw that she was staring at the mark on my arm. Her palms were the same color again, and as I checked, my skin was too.

I looked up at her in shock, and she had an, "I'm hiding something," look to her face. I started to back away from her, and she reached out to grab my arm and stop me. But I just backed away faster, eventually breaking into a run facing the right way, as she called out behind me, "Wait! I can explain!"

No. She couldn't explain. She obviously had a secret going on, something to do with magic. Don't ask me how I know, I just...can sense it.

I ran out to the school field, which was decorated with tables and chairs inviting students to sit down. I sat by myself, and students looked at my grief stricken face and could only assume that I was friendless and something bad just happened. They looked at me pitifully and walked on.

Something was up with Jenna. I sensed it even before I got that mysterious message from B. But why? What had I sensed?

It all suddenly came to me. Once in a while there would be someone off the street—a stranger, really—that I felt a pull towards. I sensed something hidden deep within them. I felt it towards Cleo and Rikki, but I was so used to it I didn't give it a second thought. Could I sense if someone had magic, like Cleo, Rikki and I?

If so, Jenna definitely was magical in some sort of way. She wasn't a mermaid—we'd narrowed it down _that_ much—so what would she be?

I didn't know, but it excited me that I could _sense_ magic in someone. I scanned the yard to see if any of the students here gave me the same pang of sense, but it came up as negative.

"Day dreamer much?" Cleo said as she came over and sat down next to me. I blushed; embarrassed that she'd caught me staring off into space. "What's up?" she asked.

"Just thinking," I said, and cupped my chin in my hands, resuming my state. Cleo watched me, shrugging. I looked up at her, and said, "Can someone sense that someone else is magical? Like you and me?"

"What?" Cleo said, confused. I repeated my question a bit slower. She thought for a second, then answered, "Well, mermaids exist. There's a good chance that some other magical creature exists. So why not a person who can sense who they are? Why do you ask?"

"Because I always get this vibe towards Rikki and you," I explained. "And some other random people that I think are magical. And Jenna, too. I think she's magical. A while before I came out here, she burned me."

"How?" Cleo asked, shocked.

"With the palm of her hand," I said, and circled my palm with my pointer finger. "She burned it right here." I then circled a part of my upper arm.

"There are no burn marks," Cleo observed in a deep trance.

"I know. That's what confuses me," I said.

I heard a plop next to me, and saw Rikki sitting down at the picnic table, setting down her bag. "Hey Rikki," I said, smiling.

"Hey," she said, nodding to me. Then she turned to Cleo. "Cleo, don't kill me, but Will is going to ask you anytime today that—"

She was cut rudely off by Will approaching us. "Hey girls. Emma, Cleo, Rikki," he said, acknowledging all of us. I gave him a little wave, Rikki a weary smile, and Cleo a nod.

"So, Cleo," Will started. "Rikki mentioned to me that you were free today. Do you want to swing by the boathouse after school and catch up a bit?"

"Uh," Cleo said, and looked at Rikki. Rikki looked guilty, lowering her eyes to the picnic table. "Well, um, you see..." Cleo was unable to say no, so she said, "I'd love to."

"Great," Will boasted, all smiles. He turned to me. "And you're invited too, Emma."

"Oh, I really have some studying to do for the math test," I explained. "I really need to bring my grades up."

"Really? Emma Gilbert needs to bring her grades up?" Will said, raising his eyebrows like he suspected me of lying.

"Yeah. My grades have dropped," I said. "If you saw my report card now, you'd scream."

Will laughed. "Okay. Have fun with that. Bye guys. See you after school, Cleo," Will said. He turned and left.

"Rikki!" Cleo said. "Why'd you tell him I was free?"

"I thought you'd enjoy some catching up with Will," Rikki said, shrugging. "Anyway, I thought maybe you two could do some smooching in the privacy of the boatshed. Will's single now," Rikki said jokingly with a wink.

"Rikki!" Cleo scolded.

Rikki held up her arms in defense. "Okay, in truth, I panicked."

"Well," Cleo said with a sigh, "I guess I'm going to have to go. Who knows? Maybe I'll like it and really get caught up," Cleo said with a smile, looking on the bright side.

With that, she walked away, her walking cast thumping every step. I looked at Rikki, and shrugged, leaving her behind at the table.

**_-Cleo POV-_**

I arrived at Will's boatshed on time by swimming. I would have been late because I had a few nagging teachers wanted to suck up all my free time after school, telling me off about my latest test scores, but I escaped the diabolical teachers right on time.

I was currently placed under Will's dock that held his boatshed, being as still and quiet as possible. I listened to the waves lapping, and tried to concentrate on the rustle inside Will's place. I wanted to make sure Sophie or someone wasn't in there, or else they'd catch me.

Once I was sure no one but Will was in there, I saw to the edge and lifted up my arm to the dock. I grabbed the dock with my arms, trying to use friction to help me up. I mentally thanked my gym teacher for pushing me to do those extra chin-ups, and pulled myself onto the deck flawlessly. I didn't know how in the world I was supposed to dry off, so I yelled to the boatshed, "Psst! Will! Will Benjamin! A little help?"

He eventually emerged out, and quickly helped me dry. He pulled me up, and we ventured into his boatshed.

I fell in steady footing behind him, admiring his ever-growing collection of shells and information hanging around in various places around the room. I carefully picked up a shiny white shell that was sitting on the table on display and examined it with interest.

"Like it?" Will asked, and I looked up to face him. I gave him a tight smile and nodded it affirmative.

"Found it when I was diving. Pretty exotic, eh?" he said, and picked up another one of his shells sitting on the counter. "This one is really common, and was just washed up on the shore, but I liked it so much that I kept it."

"So," I said, setting down the shell. "What's been going on?"

"Boring things," Will said. "No school is boring, no matter how much one hates it. I eventually came back to school. Nothing will change what happened, so I decided to embrace it." He cleared his throat as if to clear himself of the touchy subject, then said, "Water?"

"What?" I said, confused.

He turned around and rustled through his mini-fridge that only took up a corner of space, and emerged with two water bottles. He raised his eyebrows in question.

"Sure," I said, gratefully accepting the refreshing drink after a long day at school. Once he passed it to me, I observed it to make sure there were no leaks, and then took it in my hand. I untwisted the cap, breaking the seals, about to drink, when I realized what I was doing and eyed it suspiciously.

"Way ahead of you," Will said with a laugh, and passed me a straw. I thanked him, then dipped it into the water and drank.

Will watched me, and then soon returned to his own drink. Once we both had a good long slurp, he looked me in the eye and asked how things were going with me.

"Fine, fine," I replied. "The same old same old really." I knew he could tell I was lying, but I just took another sip of the water and looked at him to comment.

"Okay," he said. "How have the girls and you been developing?"

"Bad," I said, sighing. "We grew apart, now we're back together, which is good, I really missed them. But we still can't get over the thing with Bella." I gazed at my cast, now decorated with signatures, and cringed, remembering what happened yesterday.

"I haven't gotten over it either," admitted Will. "And to top it off, Bella and I had a fight that day. Not a big blowout, but still enough to make us both upset."

"You guys had a fight?" I said, shocked, but then racked my brain of that night, and uncovered some distant memory of her confessing to us of a fight. "Oh, right."

"She told you?" he asked in wonderment.

"Yeah, she said you guys had a fight, but she didn't mention what it was about." I shrugged in an it's-no-big-deal way.

"Do you want to know what it was about?" Will asked.

I shrugged, not wanting to seem like I was prying, but still really interested. "Sure, but if you don't want me to know, I can totally understand."

"Don't worry. I don't mind," insisted Will. He started, "Well, Bella was visiting the boatshed for lunch. After we ate, Bella was roaming around looking at my collection of shells while I watched her. She came across a cool looking one," Will said, then reached over and picked up a shell. It was pinkish white and had a swirl in the middle. He rubbed his thumb over the top of it while continuing, "This one. So, she asked me about it, and I told her I found it while diving deep in the ocean—deeper than I'd ever gone before. Somehow, with me mentioning it, she got on the topic of how wonderful the ocean looked at great depths, and I absentmindedly agreed.

"She politely told me that I couldn't have gone nearly as deep as her to see the majesty of it all, and that I really didn't know how beautiful it _really_ was. Then I told her that I had dived to some really deep depths before, and then she scoffed and said she'd been farther, being a mermaid and all.

"So it turned into this really stupid argument about who dived deeper," Will said, rolling his eyes. "I wished it hadn't happened."

"Yeah," I said softly. "There are a lot of things that we wish we could go back and fix." I was deep in thought.

"Even though it was a dumb fight over a useless subject, I was still boiling mad at her. Why? I have no idea," he admitted. "But...that day, I kind of felt like..."

"Like what?" I asked.

He lowered his voice like it was a big secret, and said, "I kind of wanted to get rid of her...for good."

**_-Emma POV- _**

I decided to keep the whole "sensing people's powers" a secret, but hey, it wasn't easy to keep your lips shut. I told Rikki to meet me at Rikki's Café to take a walk. I decided I'd tell her then.

"So, what is this you want to tell me?" Rikki asked, sipping her 'to-go' juice she'd made for herself, and one for me.

I stirred my raspberry juice aimlessly. I gripped the Styrofoam cup it came in, and looked at her. "See, so today I was talking to Jenna, and something weird happened."

"Weird how?" Rikki asked, and I opened my mouth to reply, but a hand clamped it shut. Rikki's hand.

She put a finger to her lips and took her hand off my mouth. She pointed to a large boat docked, and I gasped to see who was on board.

I flinched when Rikki grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a smaller boat. She peered out the side and motioned for me to do the same.

"Where do you want these?" asked a middle-aged man aboard the boat, holding a brown cardboard box filled to the brim with beakers, test tubes, microscopes, and other scientific things.

"Right there," said a young blonde also aboard, motioning to the table beside her. "And be careful. Those things are expensive."

I gaped open-mouthed at Rikki, and she shushed me. I mouthed, "Dr. Denman!" to her feverishly, and she just shushed me silently again.

Dr Denman grinned wickedly at her henchman as he set down the box, only a small tinker of glass coming from the inside. "Let's hurry up!" she called. "I want everything set up soon. I have some people I'd like to visit."

"Like that blonde scientist and the three mermaid girls?" her assistant asked, wiping his forehead from sweat. "Aren't they useless now?"

"Ex-mermaids," Denman said rudely, as if it mattered to her. "And yes, in your state of view they are. But I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in mermaids anymore. I'm a marine biologist, I study the real, not the mythical."

"But you saw them as mermaids. Doesn't that mean they _aren't_ mythical?" he replied.

Denman shrugged. "Larry, I've lost interest all together. I'm done. I just want to pay a friendly hi."

I looked up at Rikki, and gave her a disapproving look. There was no _way_ on earth that's all Denman would do to us in her clutches.

"Okay," Larry said nonchalantly, obviously not believing her at all. We didn't either.

Rikki tugged on my sleeve, and motioned for us to leave. I quickly nodded, and turned around to leave, following her. I didn't see the white bucket that was implanted behind me, labeled "_BAIT._" The bucket spilled, its liquid insides spilling in all directions, and I was sent tumbling over it into the ocean.

_Splash_, I hit the water with loud force. I swished my arms around in panic to get to the top. I surfaced, and saw Rikki kneeling down to the dock's edge. I peered down at my legs just in times to see my legs swirl into a tail.

"Larry, what was that?" Denman's voice was heard.

"I don't know, I heard a splash. I'll go check it out," he informed her.

"Run!" I whispered forcefully, and Rikki strained her neck to see all the possible places she could run and hide.

When the footsteps got louder, she muttered, "Damn!" and dived into the ocean with me. Her hand hooked on my tail and dragged me down to below the ocean with her.

I watched as she turned into a mermaid, and we both started away from the dock. I saw a shadowy figure of a man leaning over the ocean, then a muffled, "Hm, probably this bait bucket falling into the ocean."

We swam with all our might; speed swimming once we hit the one-fourth mark to Mako. We surfaced in the moon pool.

"Well, that was unexpected," I muttered miserably, sitting on the ledge that dipped into the moon pool.

"Definitely," Rikki agreed. She rubbed her head in strain. "Before we were so rudely interrupted, you were going to tell me something. What? Something about Jenna? Did you find out what she is?" Rikki asked in excitement.

"See, what happened was..." I started to say, before I was interrupted _again_ but this time by me.

My eyes shut closed, and something washed over me. Without my warning, realization started to hit me. It was like taking a roller coaster ride through my brain, but only through the parts that Jenna was the memory in. It took me through everything, as I concentrated hard, realizing this was part of my newfound power. At the end, I could finally add up 2 and 2, and something inside me clicked.

"Of course," I said, breathing out and smiling. I opened my eyes.

"What? What just happened?" Rikki asked curiously, peering at me like I was a nutcase.

"Part of what I was going to tell you." I smiled. "Rikki, Jenna's a _witch_."

**A/N: Thanks for reading, I appreciate it! Please review, bye!**


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